The differential impact of types of app innovation on customer evaluation

A Study on Temporal Effects of Different Types of Mobile Application Updates

The sustainability of market performance of mobile applications (apps) updates is a vital goal for e-commerce firms to continuously innovate for products and functions. E-commerce firms must formulate effective app update strategies and tackle the temporal uncertainties associated with different types of app updates. However, the existing literature on app updates mainly focuses on the effects of update frequency. At the same time, scant attention has been paid to clarifying the temporal effects of different types of app updates. Accordingly, based on the framework of exploration vs. exploitation, we investigate the temporal effects of different kinds of app updates on market performance in the hypercompetitive context of online travel mobile applications. We collected data on release notes and downloads of seven Chinese online travel apps available from the Android Market from April 2013 to January 2015; conducted structured content analysis to identify different types of app updates; and adopted the feasible generalized least-squares (FGLS) estimation to test our model. We found that exploitative app updates have an instant and continuous positive impact on market performance, while explorative app updates have no significant effect in the short term but will have a positive effect on market performance in the long term. Moreover, competition intensity shortens the duration of the positive effect of exploitative app updates and delays the time that explorative app updates have to take effect. By studying the different impacts that two types of app updates have on market performance from a time dimension, this study helps resolve the mixed findings on the effects of app updates and guides e-commerce firms on how to effectively formulate app update strategies in a hypercompetitive context.

The Sustainability of Superior Performance of Platform Complementor: Evidence from the Effects of Iterative Innovation and Visibility of App in iOS Platform in China

The sustainability of superior performance is a vital goal for complementor in mobile platform ecosystem, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to realize it. The previous literature about the sustainability of superior performance is insufficient and lacks deep research the mechanisms that affect the sustainability of superior performance. Based on user-oriented perspective, this study examines the direct and interactive effects of app’s iterative innovation and visibility on the sustainability of complementor’s superior performance. Using a two-way fixed effect model and monthly panel data, with the final dataset of 4596 observations from 384 apps of top-ranking positions by revenue available from December 2018 to December 2019 on the Apple iOS App Store in China, the results show that a) app’s iterative innovation and visibility (including platform recommendations and download rankings) promote the sustainability of app’s superior performance; b) platform recommendations and iterative innovation have a synergistic effect on the sustainability of app’s superior performance; and c) the download ranking has a substitution effect on iterative innovation to promote the sustainability of app’s superior performance. The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for improving the sustainability of app’s superior performance in the digital age.