Essays on Platform Sponsor Scope: Implications for Ecosystem Emergence and Growth

Platform sponsors and complementors co-create value in platform ecosystems. This dissertation sheds light on a critical aspect platform sponsor scope of such value co-creation. Platform sponsor scope constitutes the sponsors choice of activities to perform internally, their decision rights on the complements, and their orchestration in the ecosystem. Platform sponsor scope signals value co-creation opportunities to complementors and shapes the latitude of the platform sponsor in governing the ecosystem. The dissertation comprises of three essays (chapters 2, 3, and 4) that together demonstrate (i) the platform sponsors agency in choosing their scope vis--vis complementors, (ii) the interplay of platform sponsor scope with elements of problem, platform ecosystem design, and dynamics, and (iii) the implications of scope choices on ecosystem emergence and growth at different stages of the lifecycle. The first essay (chapter 2) demonstrates that the platform sponsor can facilitate ecosystem emergence by aligning their scope choice with the problem they are seeking to solve. Using a dataset of crowdfunding campaigns and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), I find distinct configurations of problem and scope for different types of ecosystems. The second essay (chapter 3) examines the interplay between the ecosystem structure and governance as exemplified in the platform sponsor scope choices. The study uses a configurational approach and inductively identifies configurations of scope and ecosystem structure across different ecosystems and at the incipient and mature stages of the lifecycle. The third essay (chapter 4) examines the role of platform sponsor scope in ecosystem dynamics of indirect network effects and ecosystem growth. Using a formal model, I find that the ecosystem growth trajectory differs based on the symmetricity of indirect network effects. However, the growth can be augmented by aligning the scope choice with the type of benefits the actors accrue within the ecosystem. I examine the micro-level dynamics using Wikipedia editing activity data and find that scope changes influence complementors participation decisions. Collectively, these essays contribute to the literature on platform ecosystems and firm scope, bringing fresh insights into how platform sponsor scope choices shape value co-creation in platform ecosystems.