Relations Between Actors in Digital Platform Ecosystems: A Literature Review

Digital platform ecosystems are a popular field of study in information systems and an economic structure of significant importance worldwide. However, we know little about what relations exist between and among actors on digital platforms. Findings of mutually beneficial interactions, cooperation, and value creation contrast findings of power, dependency, control, governance, rules, and competition in the ecosystem. To shed light on this issue, we conduct a structured literature review of information systems and management literature. In 144 studies, we find 19 different relations between and among platform owner, complementors, and end-users. We contribute to research in three ways. First, by discovering that instability of roles on digital platforms explains dual roles and the dynamics of roles more holistically than concepts that account for specific dual roles. Second, by finding weighting in the relations. Third, by observing nestedness of relations