Unveiling the factors driving the continued adoption intentions of digital platforms among complementors: Insights from SEM and fsQCA

Complementors are critical stakeholders in two-sided digital platforms, but their continued adoption intentions of these platforms remain underexplored compared with those of users. This study extends the Expectation-Confirmation Model (ECM) to address this gap by substituting perceived usefulness with perceived value-a construct that captures complementors' holistic cost-benefit evaluations-and examining how same-side network effects, cross-side network effects, perceived compatibility, and perceived complementarity influence perceived value, satisfaction, and continued adoption intentions. Using survey data from 285 complementors (third-party developers) in the Android ecosystem, we tested our hypotheses via PLS-SEM. The results show that (1) same-side network effects (intense competition among complementors) negatively impact perceived value; (2) cross-side network effects (large user bases), perceived compatibility (technical alignment with the platform), and perceived complementarity (ecosystem resource support) positively influence perceived value; (3) perceived value increases both satisfaction and continued adoption intentions; and (4) satisfaction further drives continued adoption intentions. Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies four distinct configurational paths to complementors' continued adoption intentions, highlighting that these intentions arise from the interplay of multiple factors (e.g., low same-side competition combined with high compatibility, or strong cross-side effects paired with high complementarity). This study advances the theoretical understanding of complementor behavior by extending the ECM to platform contexts, and it offers actionable insights for managers seeking to retain complementors through balancing competition, enhancing the user scale, and improving technical and ecosystem support.