Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Journal of Management Information Systems
Volume
38
Issue
2
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Inc.
Publication Date
8-6-2021
First Page
1
Last Page
37
Abstract
Increasingly, new hardware and software are embedded within ecosystems that include a platform and modules. Ideally these ecosystems perform reliably. However, if an ambiguously sourced failure occurs within one of these ecosystems, users are left to distribute blame across the various components of the ecosystem. The actual distribution of this blame, however, can be difficult to predict. This study investigates attribution of blame and discontinuance recommendations for ecosystem components after an ambiguously sourced failure. To extend platform ecosystems and attribution theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment investigating the negative consequences of failure for platform and module components and the contingent effects from design elements (border strength) and contextual factors (task goal directedness, disruption severity). Results demonstrated a diffusion of negative consequences for failure across ecosystem components, but ecosystem modules (apps) received the majority of the blame and highest discontinuance recommendations. High border strength shifted negative consequences for failure away from the OS to the device. Low goal-directedness resulted in users taking more of the blame for the failure, and higher disruption severity resulted in higher discontinuance recommendations for the OS and device. Importantly, the amount of blame attributed to one component in an ecosystem predicted discontinuance recommendations for other components.
Recommended Citation
Dunn, Brian, Jensen, Matthew, and Ralston, Ryan. "Attribution of Responsibility after Failures within Platform Ecosystems." Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 38, no. 2, 2021, pp. 546-570. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2021.1912937
Comments
This is the Author’s Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Management Information Systems on August 6th 2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07421222.2021.1912937.