Configurations of platform organizations: Implications for complementor engagement

Fatemeh Saadatmand, Rikard Lindgren and Ulrike Schultze

Research Policy, 2019, vol. 48, issue 8, -

Abstract: Digital platforms are an organizational form made up of a technological architecture and governance mechanisms for managing autonomous complementors. A platform’s success depends on their engagement in value creation and capture. Prior studies of such engagement have mainly focused on a platform’s governance mechanisms without recognizing their interdependence to its technological architecture. There is therefore a limited understanding of how the interplay between governance and architecture configures platform organizations, and why these configurations produce different levels of complementor engagement. In this paper, our analysis of a 12-year study of a shared platform initiative yields three configurations of platform organizations: vertical, horizontal, and modular. Based on these configurations, we develop propositions that theorize the implications of these organizational forms for complementor engagement. We further propose that these insights, which we derive from a shared platform, are particularly relevant for blockchain-based platforms.

Keywords: Platform organizations; Complementor engagement; Governance mechanisms; Technological architectures; Blockchain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733319300782
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:48:y:2019:i:8:4

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.03.015

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().