Platform empowerment and SMEs niches base on different life cycles

Ying Han

Technology in Society, 2025, vol. 81, issue C

Abstract: Platform ecosystems are complex knowledge network organizations that play critical roles in promoting small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) developments. However, the methods through which SMEs can better develop through platform power in the ecological interaction environment have not been fully examined. Platform empowerment relies on platform knowledge network attributes, exhibiting evident dynamic characteristics at different stages of development within the platform ecosystem, while also having different impacts on the enterprise niche. This study adopts the network perspective, categorizing platform empowerment into relational and structural empowerment. A questionnaire survey was used to for a detailed analysis on the impact of platform empowerment on the niche width mechanism of SMEs within the platform ecosystem. A conditional process model was constructed utilizing the socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization of knowledge (SECI) model. The results showed the following: (1) within platform ecosystems, both the platform relational empowerment and structural empowerment can optimize enterprise niche width; (2) knowledge socialization plays a mediating role in the relationship between platform empowerment and enterprise niche width; and (3) at the various stages of platform ecosystem development, relational and structural empowerment have different influences on enterprise niche width, indicating a dynamic empowerment trend. This study contributes to the platform empowerment impacts on enterprise niches and its performance effects in varying life cycles. It also fills a research gap by investigating interaction between SMEs in the platform from an ecosystem perspective and can provide inspiration for managers of SMEs to promote cooperation between enterprises and form ecological advantages.

Keywords: Platform ecosystem; Life cycle; Platform empowerment; SECI; Enterprise niche (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:81:y:2025:i:c:s0160791x25000387

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.102848

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