Sustaining complementor engagement in digital platform ecosystems: Antecedents, behaviours and engagement trajectories
Journal
Information Systems Journal
ISSN
1350-1917
1365-2575
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Abstract
Digital platform ecosystems increasingly dominate the enterprise software domain, and the persistence of plat- forms depends on the sustained engagement of com- plementors. However, there is a limited understanding of its antecedents, complementors' evaluation of antecedents and the manifestations and dynamic changes of com- plementors' engagement. Therefore, we investigate com- plementors' engagement within platform ecosystems over time. We draw on actor and stakeholder engagement from service research to conceptualise complementor engage- ment (CE) and create an integrated empirical understanding of CE and its dynamics in digital platform ecosystems. Our embedded case study builds on 30 interviews with com- plementors in Anubis and Osiris enterprise software plat- form ecosystems. Inductive data analysis reveals five CE antecedents: platform resources and rules, platform value proposition, platform agents, customer needs and other com- plementors' value propositions. The antecedents are associ- ated with three CE behaviours: generating, networking and synchronising. Further analysis of CE over time resulted in 26 different sequences representing stable and changing engagement trajectories, the latter comprising selective, grow- ing and abating engagement as subcategories. We show how complementors' evaluations of antecedents lead to behaviour changes, providing a novel perspective on the dynamics under- lying CE. Finally, we link complementors' evaluation outcomes to their (dis)satisfaction, contributing to the discussion on what drives and impedes CE. The findings implicate the debate on dynamic platform governance and inform platform owners about using cooperative and competitive approaches in the short and long term.
Language
English (United States)
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Volume
33
Number
5
Subject(s)
Division(s)
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Name
Engert et al._2023 ISJ.pdf
Size
605.6 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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