Imitation or innovation? The effect of structures of ecosystem complementarities on the preference for venture types

Purpose This study adds to existing research about the effect of complementarities on venture types, focusing on the structures of complementarities (hub and spoke and integrated structures) and how they affect firms’ preferences for imitation and innovation. Design/methodology/approach Building on the resource-based view (RBV), we created a theoretical framework to develop the research hypotheses. We designed a quasi-experimental questionnaire based on a policy-capturing analysis and collected data through field interviews, yielding 1,024 samples from 64 respondents. We then tested the research hypotheses using seemingly unrelated regression (SUR). Findings The empirical findings reveal that the hub and spoke structure is more likely to prefer innovation over imitation, whereas the integrated structure prefers imitation over innovation. Moreover, the results suggest that these structures have different effects on venture types. Originality/value This study empirically tests the effects of structures of complementarities on venture types, advancing the theoretical and empirical research on these structures and extending the theoretical development of complementarities in the context of an ecosystem. In addition, this study enriches the literature on venture types by introducing a new perspective for understanding imitation and innovation and emphasising the importance of structures of complementarities for venture development. The findings also provide valuable insights into how firms develop ventures in a rapidly changing and complex industrial ecosystem.