What role do data network effects play for multihoming complements? An empirical analysis of platform complementors’ strategies for consumer value creation

Clarissa Knorr (), Matthias Erath (), Julie Saesen (), Bastian Kindermann () and Steffen Strese ()
Additional contact information
Clarissa Knorr: TIE Institute, TU Dortmund University
Matthias Erath: TIE Institute, TU Dortmund University
Julie Saesen: TIE Institute, TU Dortmund University
Bastian Kindermann: Technical University of Braunschweig
Steffen Strese: TIE Institute, TU Dortmund University

Electronic Markets, 2025, vol. 35, issue 1, No 74, 17 pages

Abstract: Abstract The growing relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in digital platform ecosystems shapes value creation, recently discussed by scholars as data network effects. Complementors significantly contribute to the value that consumers derive from a platform through its offerings. The potential to leverage user data affects complementors’ strategic choices, including multihoming across different platforms, designing products with greater autonomy from the platform technology, or monetizing their product. By drawing upon a dataset of 7063 iOS gaming apps, this study assumes the perspective of data network effects and investigates empirically how complement multihoming affects perceived consumer quality, shaped by complement independence from the platform core and value capture by complementors. We contribute to research on platform markets by (1) providing an updated perspective on the value contribution of multihoming, (2) emphasizing the value advantage of complements with high software autonomy, and (3) revealing a diminishing impact of complement monetization on complement quality. These findings offer practical insights for complementors and platform providers navigating value creation and capture in today’s digital ecosystems.

Keywords: Multihoming; Data; Artificial Intelligence; Complement; Autonomy; Monetization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12525-025-00817-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:elmark:v:35:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-025-00817-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ystems/journal/12525

DOI: 10.1007/s12525-025-00817-4

Access Statistics for this article

Electronic Markets is currently edited by Rainer Alt and Hans-Dieter Zimmermann

More articles in Electronic Markets from Springer, IIM University of St. Gallen
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().