When and how mobile payment platform complementors matter in cross-border B2B e-commerce ecosystems? An integration of process and modularization analysis

Abstract

While the digital platforms literature has evolved rapidly, previous studies assumed platforms are the fundamental infrastructures. However, this neglects the temporal components of ecosystems and the role of platform complementors in developing digital platforms. By conceptualizing digital platform-based ecosystems as layered modular architectures and drawing on transaction cost theory and network effects, this study explores how platform complementors develop cross-border business-to-business (B2B) digital platform-based ecosystems. This study uses multiple longitudinal case studies and modular process analysis by exploring New Zealand B2B mobile payment agencies’ role in developing digital platform-based ecosystems. It reveals that digital platform-based ecosystems’ development is non-linear but structurally predictable. We further develop a process model to visualize the cross-border digital payment ecosystems’ temporal and modular process. The findings demonstrate that the modular patterns of digital platform-based ecosystems led by the complementors attribute to complementors’ transaction costs and the network effects.