The Engagement of Complementors and the Role of Platform Boundary Resources in e-Commerce Platform Ecosystems

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.

Investigating the live streaming sales from the perspective of the ecosystem: the structures, processes and value flow

“…Second, the current study explored the coordination and collaboration behaviors and value flow within LSS ecosystems, which not only echoes the ecosystem theory given in previous studies (Engert et al, 2022;Jacobides et al, 2018) but also provides a concise view of modules such as MCNs, live streamers and various platforms. Currently, the research on LSS ecosystem is insufficient.…”

“…In current times, people are quite familiar with e-commerce platforms that provide spaces for online purchasing and selling activities (Hu and Chaudhry, 2020). For instance, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon or Alibaba allow merchants to create and manage online stores and thus expand their careers (Engert et al, 2022). Additionally, customers are used to browsing e-commerce platforms to discover products they may like, even if they are not urgently looking to purchase anything.…”

“…An e-commerce platform is a software or website that provides information authenticity and transaction safety for both sellers and consumers to play their roles and complete online deals (Engert et al, 2022). In current times, people are quite familiar with e-commerce platforms that provide spaces for online purchasing and selling activities (Hu and Chaudhry, 2020).…”

“…An e-commerce platform is a software or website that provides information authenticity and transaction safety for both sellers and consumers to play their roles and complete online deals (Engert et al. , 2022).…”

“…In current times, people are quite familiar with e-commerce platforms that provide spaces for online purchasing and selling activities (Hu and Chaudhry, 2020). For instance, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon or Alibaba allow merchants to create and manage online stores and thus expand their careers (Engert et al. , 2022).…”