Configuration-Based ADO-TCM Synthesis of Digital Platform Innovation Pathways

Digital platform innovation has become increasingly complex as platforms enable product-service innovation, business process transformation, and ecosystem-level value creation simultaneously. However, existing research remains fragmented regarding how governance configurations shape different innovation pathways across digital platform ecosystems. This study addresses this gap by synthesizing research on product and service innovation (PSI), business process innovation (BPI), and hybrid innovation (HI) through an integrated Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes (ADO) and Theories–Contexts–Methods (TCM) perspective. Based on a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of 57 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026, this study identifies recurring governance configurations linking ecosystem conditions, managerial decisions, and innovation outcomes. The findings suggest that governance configurations provide an analytical lens for explaining how ecosystem conditions correspond to differentiated innovation pathways. PSI is primarily characterized by openness, modularity, complementor participation, and market-facing value creation, whereas BPI emphasizes coordination, standardization, scalability, and process optimization. HI emerges when product-service, process, and ecosystem innovation logics intersect, requiring governance configurations that balance openness and control, exploration and exploitation, and multiple levels of value creation. This study contributes by reconceptualizing ADO as a configuration-based framework for explaining platform innovation pathways beyond linear antecedent–outcome relationships. The findings provide insights into how platform managers can align governance choices with ecosystem conditions and innovation objectives. By integrating ADO and TCM perspectives, this review advances a contingent governance view of digital platform innovation and identifies directions for future research and managerial practice.