ABSTRACT

As digital platform ecosystems grow in prominence, their interconnectedness and complexity also grow, making operational failure likely. How failures in such systems affect user perceptions of separate ecosystem components, however, is not well understood. This research investigates attribution of responsibility and discontinuance recommend ations for ecosystem components after failures of ambiguous origin. Building on attribution theory, platform ecosystems literature, and research on digital borders, we conducted two scenario-based experiments investigating negative consequences of failure for ecosystem components. We also explored contingent effects from design elements (border strength) and contextual factors (disruption severity). Results demonstrated that when failures occur, negative consequences diffuse to all ecosystem components, with apps receiving the strongest discontinuance recommendations. Greater disruption severity increased discontinuance recommendations for the app. Furthermore, border strength between ecosystem components shifted negative consequences for failure toward the platform (e.g., operating system [OS] and device). Perceptions of locus and controllability were the primary mechanisms driving attributions of responsibility for failure. However, contrary to attribution theory, lack of failure stability increased blame for the app instead of reducing it. Despite higher coordination costs, our results indicate the importance of better-integrated ecosystems that experience fewer faults and that app developers bear the greatest burden in delivering this experience. Furthermore, attribution for failure can be shaped by clearly delineated borders. Thus, design decisions affecting border strength should be actively managed by ecosystem participants, and app developers may be incentivized to elevate border strength.

摘要

随着数字平台生态系统的日益突出，它们的互连性和复杂性也在增加，从而可能导致运营失败。然而，此类系统中的故障如何影响用户对不同生态系统组件的看法尚不清楚。这项研究调查了责任归属和生态系统组件在不明原因故障后的中断建议。基于归因理论、平台生态系统文献和数字边界研究，我们进行了两个基于场景的实验，调查生态系统组件失败的负面后果。我们还探讨了设计元素（边界强度）和上下文因素（中断严重程度）的偶然影响。结果表明，当发生故障时，负面后果会扩散到所有生态系统组成部分，应用收到最强烈的停产建议。中断严重程度越高，应用程序的中断建议就越多。此外，生态系统组件之间的边界强度将失败的负面后果转移到平台（例如，操作系统 [OS] 和设备）。对轨迹和可控性的感知是驱动故障责任归因的主要机制。然而，与归因理论相反，故障稳定性的缺乏增加了应用程序的责任，而不是减少了它。尽管协调成本更高，但我们的结果表明，更好地集成生态系统的重要性，这些生态系统遇到的故障更少，并且应用程序开发人员在提供这种体验时承担最大的负担。此外，可以通过清晰划定的边界来塑造失败的归因。因此，