Abstract
In the digital economy, platforms are central to value creation by connecting users and coordinating exchanges. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), deciding whether to build their own platform or join an existing one entails balancing autonomy and dependence. While Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) explains how firms manage tangible, intangible, and human resources, it overlooks the growing importance of data in platform ecosystems. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative multiple-case study of 12 Chinese SMEs across four platform ecosystems, based on 54 semi-structured interviews and archival data. We identified four mechanisms of resource dependence, including tangible, intangible, human, and data, that shape SMEs’ platform strategies. Our results reveal that concerns over dependence, rather than resource scarcity, primarily drive platform choices, and that data dependence introduces a novel socio-technical dimension to RDT. The study extends RDT by distinguishing data from traditional intangible resources, developing a configuration model of platform choice, and revealing interaction effects among different types of dependence. Practically, it guides SMEs in evaluating platform participation risks and informs platform developers on governance mechanisms that alleviate dependence concerns, thereby enriching Information Systems research on how digital resource configurations shape strategic decisions in data-driven contexts.