Research | Xia Yu: Third-Party Software Development Kit Utilization and Mobile App Market Performance

Release time：26 December 2025

In the era of the digital economy, dominated by platform ecosystems, mobile application developers face challenges from continuous innovation and user retention. Against this backdrop, integrating the third-party software development kits (SDKs) has become a key strategy for developers to quickly introduce advanced technologies, enrich application functionality, and enhance market competitiveness. However, as a “boundary resource” in platform ecosystems, how third-party SDKs influence mobile application performance and market competitiveness is still up in the air.

Third-Party Software Development Kit Utilization and Mobile App Market Performance, co-authored by Professor Xia Yu from the School of Management and Economics (SME), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen), and Professors Chen Hailiang and Fang Yulin from The University of Hong Kong, was published in the Information Systems Research, a world-leading journal in information systems. With a focus on exploring the multidimensional impact of third-party SDKs as a boundary resource on mobile application performance, the paper reveals their underlying mechanisms and provides theoretical reference and practical guidance for developers’ decisions on technology integration.

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