Improving relationship performance on platforms: the role of platform technology usage in promoting justice

Purpose Technology has dramatically changed the nature of interorganizational relationships and the ways partners interact with each other. In the new platform business model, platform technology usage seems to work as a governance mechanism to regulate operations and manage platform builder-platform participant relationships. To respond to these changes, this study aims to examine how platform technology usage in platform operations influenced the relationship quality between the platform builder and platform participants by promoting perceptions of three types of justice (procedural, distributive and informational). Design/methodology/approach The authors propose that it is through the perception of three types of justice (procedural, distributive and informational) that platform technology usage exerts its governance effect on the platform relationship. In doing this, the authors seek to answer the following two related research questions in the platform setting: How does platform technology usage drive relationship performance via different types of justice perceptions? Which type of justice affects relationship performance most effectively? Findings The results from a survey of 384 participant firms from two of the largest digital platforms for mobile/PC application in China reveal that platform technology usage leads to better relationship performance through enhanced perceptions of procedural, distributive, and informational justice. The positive impacts of procedural justice and distributive justice on relationship performance are greater than that of informational justice, while the impacts of procedural justice and distributive justice show no significant differences. Originality/value These findings provide novel insights into the role and mechanisms of platform technology usage in platform relationship management.