Mobile Application Quality and Platform Stickiness under Formal vs. Self-Control - Evidence from an Experimental Study

摘要

Although control modes have been extensively studied in IS research, minimal research attention has been directed towards understanding how different control mechanisms operate in software-based platforms. Drawing on self-determination theory and IS control literature, we conducted a laboratory experiment with 138 participants in which we examined how well third-party developers contribute to a mobile app development platform in terms of output quality and whether they are willing to stick with this platform under formal (i.e., output and process) and informal (i.e., self) control. We demonstrate that self-control has consistently stronger effects on application quality and platform stickiness than formal control modes. We also shed light on perceived autonomy as explanatory mechanism through which the control modes' effects are mediated. Taken together, our study highlights the theoretically important finding that self-determination among third-party developers is a stronger driving force than typical hierarchical control mechanisms. Implications for research and practice are discussed.