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Publication of a study on the value co-creation of developers and platform owners in generative AI platform ecosystems

Fictitious representation of a platform ecosystem © AI generated with Imagen 3
Vincent Heimburg and Prof. Manuel Wiesche published a study in the Journal of Management Information Systems together with a colleague.

Vincent Heimburg, Maximilian Schreieck and Manuel Wiesche- “Complementor Value Co-Creation in Generative AI Platform Ecosystems”,  Link to publication

The study examines value co-creation in generative AI platform ecosystems, which are characterized by two facets of generative AI: open-endedness and inscrutability. This leads to new challenges for developers on the platform when it comes to value co-creation. For example, the two facets prevent the platform from offering developers standardized and reusable services with consistent outputs. Using a case study of the OpenAI platform ecosystem, the study identifies four value co-creation mechanisms that mitigate these challenges: (1) utilizing system instructions, (2) providing context data, (3) curating user inputs, and (4) revising AI model outputs. We contribute to research by revealing two novel logics—the reap logic and the differentiation logic—that explain how complementors co-create value by mitigating the challenges through the value co-creation mechanisms.

The Journal of Management Information Systems is one of the leading journals in information systems and is included in the Financial Times 50 ranking of the top 50 journals in business research.

The article will be published open access in mid-2025 in the special issue on “Generative AI and its Transformative Value for Digital Platforms”: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/mmis20