Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

3-2022

Abstract

Extant platform research focuses on how platform owners' governance behaviors directly affect complementors. This study explicates the multilateral interdependence among different groups of producers within a platform ecosystem. We theorize about how platform owners' governance design may create frictions between platform providers and complementors. While open governance grants greater autonomy to platform providers, it also cultivates a more complex ecosystem for complementors. Since ecosystem complexity raises the cost of product customization, complementors will be less willing to port an existing complement to a more complex ecosystem, that is, less likely to multihome. The negative effect is weakened as the complementor has greater experience with the destination ecosystem or when the complement exhibits a greater level of modularity. Our analysis of newly launched apps in Apple's iOS and Google's Android smartphone ecosystems finds supportive evidence. We discuss implications for the burgeoning literature on platform ecosystems and complementors.

Keywords

platform governance, ecosystem, complementor, multihoming, modularity, app

Discipline

E-Commerce | Strategic Management Policy

Research Areas

Strategy and Organisation

Publication

Journal of Management

Volume

48

Issue

3

First Page

630

Last Page

656

ISSN

0149-2063

Identifier

10.1177/0149206320988337

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320988337

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