Logic Pluralism in Mobile Platform Ecosystems: A Study of Indie App Developers on the iOS App Store

Abstract

The software development field has inherently been identified with two field-level institutional logics, i.e., logic of the profession and logic of the markets. Traditionally, information systems development methodologies have been used to reconcile the competing demands from these two logics. In this paper, we study how these two logics manifest in a platform-based software ecosystem where significant entrepreneurial opportunities are created for independent third-party app developers (indies). Specifically, we study how indie developers manage the two logics on the iOS platform ecosystem under the influence of the platform owner Apple. We first identify practices of indie developers consistent with the two field logics across three entrepreneurial domains, i.e., app ideation, execution, and marketing. Second, we identify areas where the two field logics may be in conflict as well as in coexistence. We show that indie developers enact logic conflict through disagreement and denunciation of the opposing logic. When logics that are inherently opposed appear to coexist, we investigate how app developers manage these opposing demands through a process we call logic synthesis. Using a grounded theory approach, we propose a model of field-level market and professional logics operating in the mobile app platform ecosystem and the practices reflecting such logics in the indie developer community. Our work contributes to the growing literature on platform ecosystems and the processes adopted by third-party app developers in such ecosystems, in addition to furthering the study of institutional logics in technology contexts.