Liu, Yang (2024) The overt and covert governance of platform ecosystems. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2024 (1). (doi:10.5465/AMPROC.2024.16675abstract).
Abstract
Platform governance is critical for platform ecosystems. In this conceptual paper, I distinguish overt and covert governance of digital platforms which often co-exist, and explore how platforms can manage the relationship between the two. I develop a process model showing that platforms can reveal the rules they use for governance, but at a certain point a bottleneck can be created, preventing the revealing of the rules. Platforms can then adopt three approaches, the decoupling approach, the coupling approach, and the hybrid approach. I analyze how the three approaches can unfold and how platforms can choose among or switch between these approaches. This paper contributes to the platform governance literature by studying covert governance that has not received much attention despite its importance. It shows how platforms, while often adopting overt and covert governance simultaneously, can manage the two differently.
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