CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERORGANIZATIONALRELATIONSHIPS AND THE STRUCTURE OFINTERORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS:AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

摘要

Volume of commerce through web-enabled interorganizational systems like electronic-exchanges has steadilyrnrisen over the past years. However, universal acceptance and success of this phenomenon has not materialized.rnMany exchanges have suffered participation problems and many models have fallen out of favor. We argue thatrnit is important to relate the characteristics of existing inter-firm-relationships to the structure ofrninterorganizational systems, to realize value from such systems.rnPrior literature has looked into antecedents and use of interorganizational systems, and generalized effect ofrnIT on interorganizational relationships. We extend this literature by articulating that the structure ofrninterorganizational systems is predicted by the characteristics of inter-firm relationships. We define thesernconstructs through underlying variables. We draw from literature that explores the effect of IT on inter-firmrnrelationships, and from organizational theory literature that addresses inter-firm relationships. We put forthrnpropositions that relate the variables.