Exploring the Mechanism of Cross-group Network Externalities: A Case Study on B2B Platform

Users' behaviors under network effect in e-commerce have attracted the much attention in both the popular press and the research community. The cross-group network externality, one kind of network effect, has an impact on user's behavior in B2B platform. This research processes a time series analysis on the user's data from a famous B2B platform in China. Base on two-sided market theory, the user data from different sides are analyzed to investigate explore the mechanism of cross-group network externality in B2B platform. After stationarity test, ADF test, and Granger test, the causality relationships between different sides are found. And we conclude that the seller inquiry is the cause of active buyer; active buyer is the cause of active seller; active seller is the cause of buyer inquiry and vice versa.