E-commerce platform collaboration and platform-based supply chain efficiency: A conceptual review of structural integration and relational quality mechanisms

Abstract

This article aims to develop a structural-relational conceptual framework explaining how e-commerce platform collaboration mechanisms translate into platform-based supply chain efficiency through supply chain integration and supply chain relationship quality. E-commerce platforms increasingly reshape supply chains as coordination infrastructures rather than merely online transaction channels. However, existing research remains fragmented in explaining how platform collaboration becomes efficiency-relevant in platform-based supply chains. Using a conceptual review and development-sequence synthesis, this article integrates literature on e-commerce platform collaboration, supply chain integration, supply chain relationship quality, and platform-based supply chain efficiency. The synthesis identifies two parallel mechanisms. Supply chain integration operates as a structural mechanism by aligning information, processes, and operations, whereas supply chain relationship quality operates as a relational mechanism by strengthening trust, commitment, and cooperative problem-solving. Based on this synthesis, the article develops a framework linking E-commerce Platform Collaboration Mechanisms, Supply Chain Integration, Supply Chain Relationship Quality, and Platform-Based Supply Chain Efficiency. The article contributes by clarifying that platform collaboration does not automatically generate efficiency; its efficiency relevance depends on whether platform-supported coordination becomes structurally embedded and relationally sustained.