Why don't they join? Analyzing the Nature and Consequences of Complementors' Costs in Platform Ecosystems

Platforms enable third-parties to develop new software artefacts like applications and become the locus of digital innovation. Prior studies have mainly focused on the benefits that initially motivate external complementors to join an ecosystem. However, little is known about the costs that are associated with this choice and how such costs actually influence the decision to interrelate with a platform owner. We develop the overarching idea that the complementor´s costs are mainly influenced by the interplay of the micro-architecture of single extensions and control modes applied to govern the ecosystem. The purpose of our research is therefore to shed light on the nature of complementors’ costs on the micro-level of transactions between the platform owner and the complementor and their effects on the intention to join an ecosystem. Using data from a quantitative survey among complementors of five leading platforms in the Enterprise Application Software industry hypothesized relationships are tested.