PhD Defence Matteo Di Domenico | Digital Platforms in Non-Digital Markets: Adoption Dynamics in Traditional Industries

Digital Platforms in Non-Digital Markets: Adoption Dynamics in Traditional Industries

Matteo Di Domenico is a PhD student in the department Entrepreneurship Technology Management. (Co)Promotors are prof.dr. H. Schiele and dr.ir. E. Hofman from the faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences (BMS), University of Twente, and dr. J. Rietveld from UCL School of Management.

Digital platforms have significantly transformed numerous industries by facilitating scalable interactions among diverse user groups. Despite their widespread success in digital-native, consumer-focused sectors, platform adoption remains challenging in traditional, non-digital-native ones, such as agriculture and manufacturing. These typically feature long-established offline relationships and operations that pose substantial barriers to platform emergence. This dissertation explores how platforms can strategically overcome such barriers, focusing specifically on existing offline commitments of buyers and complementors.

This dissertation is composed of four studies. The first one provides a systematic bibliometric review of the platform literature, identifying foundational theoretical concepts, recent research trajectories, as well as gaps in the literature.

The second study investigates buyer-side adoption using a randomized controlled field experiment involving 1,739 SMEs. Specifically, it examines how strategic drivers – price convenience, assortment size, presence of specific complementors, and platform convenience – shape platform adoption intentions and explores whether buyers’ commitment to existing offline suppliers moderates these effects.

The third study addresses complementor-side adoption by analyzing survey data from 564 manufacturing SMEs across Europe. It identifies how commitment to offline distributors, product complexity, and IT strategic agility influence the decision of potential complementors to join a platform.

The fourth study applies Preferred Customer Theory to examine supplier adoption dynamics through a survey of 764 manufacturing SMEs. It distinguishes between initial attractiveness and ongoing satisfaction criteria, stressing how these constructs influence complementor decisions to adopt and remain active on platforms, respectively.

Overall, this dissertation contributes to platform literature by studying how nascent platforms can navigate and overcome offline commitment barriers in traditional industries. Practically, it provides actionable strategic guidance for platform managers aiming to stimulate initial adoption and sustain growth in traditionally offline-dominated contexts.