The impacts of mobile platform openness on the knowledge sharing intention of third party developers

In mobile platforms, knowledge sharing behaviors of third party developers play a critical role in enhancing generativity of the platform, thereby leading to the success of the platform. Developers can generate new ideas and opportunities and enhance their expertise through knowledge sharing. This paper aims to explain the intention of knowledge sharing among third party developers with the Android case based on theory of reasoned action. The effect of platform openness, which consists of accessibility and controllability, is investigated as a critical motivation of knowledge sharing. Accessibility increases the size and diversity of developer pools and enables efficiency of communication among developers. Controllability enhances the needs of knowledge sharing due to the increase in uncertainty. The results show that platform openness enhances knowledge sharing intentions of developers. In addition, other motivational factors including self-efficacy, reciprocity, reputation, and rivalry are included in the research model, and the results show that self-efficacy and reciprocity stimulate knowledge sharing while a sense of rivalry hinders the knowledge sharing. This paper provides comprehensive framework to enhance understanding of knowledge sharing in the mobile platform context.