Platform Governance: A Study of Governance Mechanisms and Their Impact on Ecosystem Outcomes

While governance has long been fundamental to strategic management research, its nature has shifted in today’s digital economy. In this dissertation I study governance in the context of digital platforms, drawing together both theory and practice in three distinct and interrelated essays. In essay 1, I conduct a systematic literature review of platform governance to synthesize extant scholarship. In doing so, I uncover the conceptual structure of the literature, clarify the conceptual contours of the construct, develop an organizing framework, and identify areas for future research. In the next two essays, I conduct empirical investigations using the e-commerce landscape to address some of the salient gaps identified in the review. Specifically, in essay 2, I examine the effectiveness of revenue-sharing, a prominent pecuniary mechanism used by platform firms to govern ecosystem activity. In essay 3, I develop a better understanding of how governance mechanisms combine to shape platform participation. Specifically, I undertake a configurational examination of both user- and complementor- oriented governance mechanisms and study their impact on platform adoption. Together, the essays offer insight into how platform firms manage their ecosystems and as such advance a more nuanced understanding of platform governance, the development of which is increasingly important as digital platforms continue to integrate further into the economic fabric.