The Engagement of Complementors and the Role of Platform Boundary Resources in e-Commerce Platform Ecosystems
Journal
Information Systems Frontiers
ISSN
1387-3326
1572-9419
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
The success of digital platforms can be attributed to the engagement of autonomous complementors as exemplified by e-commerce Content Management System (CMS) platforms such as WordPress and Shopify. Platform owners provide Platform Boundary Resources (PBRs) to stimulate and control complementor engagement. Despite the increasing scholarly interest in digital platform ecosystems, their exact role in facilitating and channeling complementor engagement remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted an embedded case study on CMS platform ecosystems, comprising a total of 24 interviews with platform owners and complementors. We inductively derive five types of complementor engagement and their respective manifestations and two overarching engagement goals of complementors. Moreover, we determine the different types of PBRs utilized, including their critical effects, and distinguish between uniform and individual PBRs reflecting their respective generalizability and scalability. We discuss the findings by introducing the concepts of complementor resourcing and complementor securing and shed light on the standardization-individualization tension of PBRs faced by platform owners.
Language
English (United States)
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Volume
24
Number
6
Subject(s)
Division(s)
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Engert et al._2022 ISF.pdf
Size
802.57 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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