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Platform openness and value: the mediation effect of user interaction and psychological distance

Florent Saucède (MoISA, Univ. Montpellier, Institut Agro, INRAe, Montpellier, France)
David Vidal (University of Montpellier, MRM, Montpellier, France)

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

ISSN: 0959-0552

Article publication date: 15 August 2024

Issue publication date: 11 November 2024

111

Abstract

Purpose

Linking platform governance and value, the article explains how platforms manage openness, which gives users access and authority, to shape the user experience and orchestrate interactive value co-creation within their ecosystem.

Design/methodology/approach

We adopted an abductive approach, drawing on an embedded multiple case study of platform-based local alternative food networks. The strong symbolic dimension embedded into that context allowed for a full exploration of value in its interactive nature.

Findings

Platform openness influences value creation directly, but also through two mechanisms: one behavioural, involving interactions between users and sides, and the other cognitive, involving users’ abstraction level. Value co-creation goes beyond the online space and occurs in complex sets of interactions between users. Digital platforms can thus generate intrinsic value co-creation that enhances their utility.

Originality/value

We have adopted a marketing channel theory reading of openness and mobilised a broader conception of value as well as cognitive science to explain how this key element of platform governance affects value creation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

We thank the editor of the journal, the editors of the special issue and the anonymous reviewers who helped us to improve our article significantly.

Citation

Saucède, F. and Vidal, D. (2024), "Platform openness and value: the mediation effect of user interaction and psychological distance", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 52 No. 9, pp. 856-874. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-11-2022-0467

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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