| The advent of digital technologies and digital platforms has begun to fundamentally reshape the nature and structure of the global economy.The complexity and interdependence of the communication technologies underlying the mobile data revolution have caused many platform ecosystems to emerge.Digital platforms fundamentally reorganize the nature,process,structure and business costs of firms,catalyzing the transformation of an enterprise from a single product or service to a platform,and platform enterprises become the main venue for innovation,value creation and value capture.From the perspective of enterprise practice,although a number of leading platform enterprises have been born in our country driven by the application of digital technology and data,fierce competition and innovation pressure are always threatening the survival of enterprises,and the competitive advantage of many platform enterprises is fleeting.In order to continuously gain and enhance competitive advantage in a changing environment,firms need to develop and continuously develop dynamic capabilities that match the environment.Therefore,it is necessary and urgent to study the antecedents and performance effects of platform enterprises’ dynamic capabilities in the era of digital economy.Under the background of the platform economy,different stakeholders such as customers and complementers and platform enterprises show an interdependent relationship.Therefore,in a platform enterprise,how to attract other stakeholders in the ecosystem and obtain corresponding resources to achieve the improvement of dynamic capabilities is particularly important.From the existing research,the optimal distinctiveness theory provides a theoretical basis for how enterprises attract stakeholders through unique or legitimate behaviors,and then affect the capability or performance of enterprises,and it is a hot topic that scholars pay attention to.Previous studies have focused on two optimal distinctive behaviors,namely symbolic behavior and substantive behavior.Among them,the digital economy has also greatly changed the marketing methods and communication methods of enterprises.Through the symbolic behavior of narrative distinctiveness,enterprises show their unique competitive advantages to the outside world,and the process of acquiring resources has attracted more and more attention.The strategic use of narrative can serve as a persuasive strategy for managing a company’s key stakeholders,and narrative strategies can form the micro-foundation of dynamic capabilities.However,the existing research has not paid enough attention to the relationship between the platform enterprise’s narrative distinctiveness and the acquisition of slack resources and dynamic capabilities building.In addition to symbolic behaviors,platform enterprises also need substantive behaviors to attract stakeholders.In reality,most platforms adopt differentiated strategies based on distinctive logic to obtain distinctive strategic positioning.Although previous studies have focused on the positive relationship between differentiated strategy and dynamic capabilities,most of the studies have not considered the lack of legitimacy brought about by high degree of differentiation.It is urgent to excavate the mechanism by which the platform enterprise’s differentiation strategy affects performance through dynamic capabilities from the theoretical level.The development of theory requires extensive contextualization work.In addition to focusing on distinctiveness,the optimal distinctiveness problem also focuses on the legitimacy of enterprises.The legality pressure of enterprises to compensate for distinctiveness through different sources of legitimacy deserves further study.This research pays particular attention to the role of digital technology applications in releasing positive signals to the outside world,the legitimacy buffer role played by government subsidies as a representative of good interaction with the government,and the institutional environment,environmental dynamics and dynamic capabilities to achieve the process of optimal distinctiveness.Based on the practical situation of platform enterprises in China,and based on the theoretical perspective of optimal distinctiveness,this study selects the perspective of meaning construction,the perspective of competition,and the perspective of configuration and designs three sub-studies to explore the impact of narrative uniqueness and differentiation strategy on dynamic capabilities.and the impact of dynamic capabilities on firm performance.Sub-study 1 focuses on the narrative distinctiveness from the perspective of sensemaking.It focuses on how the narrative distinctiveness disclosed in the annual report of platform enterprises affects the competitive advantage and legacy perceived by stakeholders,so as to obtain slack resources to help enterprises improve their dynamic capabilities.It also focuses on how enterprises can apply digital technology applications to increase the credibility of narrative distinctiveness.Using textual and financial data of small and medium-sized platform enterprise(platform enterprise listed on Small and Medium Enterprise Board and growth enterprise market)from 2007-2019,this study examined the effects of narrative distinctiveness on slack resources and dynamic capabilities through fixedeffects regression models.This study also examined the mediating role of slack resources,and the moderating effect of digital technology applications on the relationship between narrative distinctiveness and slack resources.It was found that:narrative distinctiveness was positively correlated with dynamic capabilities;narrative distinctiveness was positively correlated with slack resources;redundant resources played a mediating role between narrative distinctiveness and dynamic capabilities;and digital technology applications strengthened the positive relationship between narrative distinctiveness and slack resources.Sub-study Ⅱ revolves around the paradoxical problem caused by differentiation strategies in a competitive perspective,considering the tensions of distinctiveness and legitimacy that differentiation strategies may face.Based on optimal distinctiveness theory,Sub-study Ⅱ reveals the mechanisms by which differentiation strategies affect the performance of platform enterprises through dynamic capabilities,and focuses on the role of government subsidies as a "legitimacy buffer" for the relationship between differentiation strategy and dynamic capabilities of platform enterprises.This study examines the relationship between differentiation strategies and dynamic capabilities,the relationship between differentiation strategies and firm performance,the mediating role of dynamic capabilities,and the moderating effect of government subsidies through random effects regression models using financial data of platform enterprises listed on the main board and Growth enterprise market)from 2007-2019,respectively.It was found that: differentiation strategy has an inverted U relationship with firm performance;differentiation strategy has an inverted U relationship with dynamic capabilities;dynamic capabilities play a mediating role between differentiation strategy and firm performance;and government subsidies make the inverted U-shaped relationship between differentiation strategy and dynamic capabilities even steeper.Sub-study Ⅲ builds on Sub-study I and Sub-study Ⅱ by identifying the key antecedent conditions that influence the dynamic capabilities of platform enterprises:narrative distinctiveness,differentiation strategies,dynamic capabilities,digital technology adoption,government subsidies,and corporate social responsibility.Based on the configurational perspective,this study systematically analyzes the possible concurrent relationships between distinctiveness and legitimacy factors that affect the dynamic capabilities of platform enterprises,and identifies the contextual factors that influence the role of dynamic capabilities,and mining the linkage effect of adaptive capability,absorptive capability and innovation capability in different contexts(environmental dynamics,institutional environment).The study found that: The necessary conditions analysis of the Qualitative Comparative Analysis(QCA)approach reveals that individual antecedent conditions do not constitute necessary conditions for platform enterprises dynamic capabilities and performance,and that complex configurational roles among multiple elements need to be explored to drive platform firm performance;A configurational analysis of the QCA approach identified five configurations drive the platform enterprise’s high dynamic capabilities,including the collaborative drive of digital technology and legitimacy,the collaborative drive of digital technology and government subsidies,the collaborative drive of strategy,digital technology and social responsibility,the collaborative drive of distinctiveness and government subsidies,and the collaborative drive of narrative,strategy and legitimacy;It is found that four configurations drive high firm performance of platform enterprises,adaptive capability driven under dynamic environment,innovative capability driven under dynamic environment,adaptive and absorptive capability driven under institutional guarantee,and dynamic capability driven under dynamic environment and institutional guarantee.This paper makes a theoretical contribution by promoting the development of the study of optimal distinctiveness theory of platform enterprises as well as the study of dynamic capabilities.First,this study extends the application of optimal distinction theory to platform enterprises and examines the unique narrative and strategic optimal distinctiveness problems of platform enterprises from a systematic and optimal depth.This study promotes the understanding of the distinctiveness of optimal narratives and strategic positioning of platform firms,and advances the study of threshold orchestration view and integration orchestration view of substantive and symbolic behaviors under optimal distinctiveness theory.Second,key antecedents affecting the dynamic capabilities of platform enterprises are identified,revealing the mechanisms by which dynamic capabilities affect firm performance.Sub-study I deeply explores the mechanism by which narrative distinctiveness affects dynamic capabilities from the perspective of sensemaking and reveals the micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities of platform enterprises.Sub-study Ⅱ combines optimal distinctiveness theory and dynamic capability theory to provide a new perspective for exploring the relationship between differentiation strategies and capabilities,and to explore the mediating role played by dynamic capabilities of platform enterprises in the relationship between differentiation strategies and performance.Sub-study ⅡI further explored the antecedents and results of dynamic capabilities from the perspective of configuration,which promoted the research of dynamic capabilities under configuration thinking.Third,by identifying key contextual factors that influence optimal distinctiveness behavior and dynamic capabilities of platform firms,the findings of this study also promote contextualized explanations of optimal distinctiveness behavior and dynamic capabilities of platform firms from different perspectives,responding to the existing literature’s call for research on narrative distinctiveness,differentiation strategies,and contextualized dynamic capabilities,thus providing new ideological insights for optimal distinctiveness theory and dynamic capabilities research.In terms of practical insights,firstly,this paper helps platform enterprise managers to develop effective unique strategies around different levels of optimal distinctiveness of problem challenges,and helps to inspire how platform enterprises can quickly build dynamic capabilities.Platform enterprise managers should realize the importance of narrative and use narrative distinctiveness strategy to convey the information of enterprise identity and relevant signals,so as to help enterprises achieve slack resource acquisition and enhance dynamic capability.Managers of platform enterprise should adopt moderate differentiated strategic practices to avoid legitimacy and competitive risks as much as possible,maximize the building of dynamic capabilities,and help enterprise anchor their strategic positioning and market segmentation to achieve optimal performance.Second,based on the results of the integrated orchestration view,when platform enterprises lack the element of legitimacy,they can obtain a high degree of distinctiveness and some legitimacy through narrative distinctiveness and a synergistic linkage of differentiation strategies or digital technology applications,and thus achieve high performance.Based on the results of the threshold orchestration view,platform enterprises need to consider the issue of the firm’s legitimacy threshold when implementing unique behaviors such as narrative distinctiveness,differentiation strategies,and dynamic capabilities.Finally,this paper inspires managers to address the challenges of optimal distinctiveness and dynamic capabilities faced by platform enterprises based on different situational conditions.In contexts where firms disclose a higher level of digital technology,stakeholders have a better understanding of a firm’s digital technology strength and managers should increase the extent to which the narrative deviates from the industry.Managers of platform enterprises should actively seek to build a good relationship with the government,seek government subsidies to obtain legitimacy certification,and enhance the positive impact of narrative distinctiveness on slack resources.Platform enterprises should take the initiative to assume corporate social responsibility to compensate for the possible loss of legitimacy of differentiation strategies and enhance the impact of differentiation strategies on dynamic capabilities.High environmental dynamics will enhance the competitive pressure faced by enterprises and promote enterprises to configure dynamic capabilities of corresponding dimensions to improve performance.High institutional environment will ease the pressure of legitimacy faced by enterprises and promote the change of dynamic capabilities to improve performance. |
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