Research on decision rights partitioning and its impact on platform performance has predominantly focused on single rights, leading to inconclusive results. This study is driven by a more nuanced objective of exploring diverse governance models that can enhance the performance of sharing platforms across different contexts. Rather than delegating single decision right to users, this approach partitions several essential decision rights concurrently throughout the transaction process. By examining the complex relationships between multiple decision rights partitioning and platform performance, this study identifies and explains suitable governance models that are tailored to specific contextual factors for improving the performance of sharing platforms.
Collecting data from 60 sharing platforms in China, this study employs a combination of cluster and configuration analyses to address research questions.
The study explores three strategic decision rights partitioning modes widely adopted by sharing platforms. It further identifies four governance models for sharing platforms, which are termed as conservative seller model, conservative buyer model, aggressive seller model and aggressive buyer model, related to certain contextual factors.
In addressing platform governance as key to sharing platform success, the study contributes to the literature by investigating how multiple-rights partitioning portfolios and strategic differentiation in decision rights partitioning can enhance platform performance.
