Publications
Publications
- March 2022
- Strategic Management Journal
From Proprietary to Collective Governance: How Do Platform Participation Strategies Evolve?
By: Siobhan O'Mahony and Rebecca Karp
Abstract
When platform leaders change the rules guiding who can access and control a platform, the strategies of those who create value from the platform can be upended. Little research examines how platform participants adapt their strategies when a platform leader changes the rules governing access and control. We trace how participation with a development platform evolved under four different governance modes with varied access and control conditions. Participation intensity increased as access opened but decreased when platform leadership became unclear. Distributed platform leadership emerged only once the platform was collectively governed. Rather than assume that all firm participation complements a platform, we show how firms guardedly participate with open and collective platforms in ways that can either extend or subvert a platform's vitality.
Keywords
Platform Governance; Access; Crowdsourcing; Applications and Software; Employees; Leadership Style; Cybersecurity; Risk Management
Citation
O'Mahony, Siobhan, and Rebecca Karp. "From Proprietary to Collective Governance: How Do Platform Participation Strategies Evolve?" Strategic Management Journal 43, no. 3 (March 2022): 530–562.