An empirical study of the impact of e-business technologies on organizational collaboration and performance

• Published in: Journal of operations management 2007-11, Vol.25 (6), p.1332-1347
• Main Author: Sanders, Nada R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collaboration; e-Business technologies; Electronic commerce; Impact analysis; Information sharing; Inter-organizational collaboration; Intra-organizational collaboration; Structural equation modeling; Studies; Supply chain management; Supply chains
• ISSN: 0272-6963; 1873-1317
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jom.2007.01.008

The use of e-business technologies between supply chain organizations has been thematic in recent literature. Organizational collaboration, the foundation of supply chain management, has been enabled by the development and use of e-business technologies. Organizational collaboration and information sharing, in turn, are expected to improve organizational performance. We propose and test a model of the relationship between organizational use of e-business technologies, organizational collaboration, and performance, using empirical data. Our model differs from past studies in that collaboration is viewed as two unique constructs, differentiating between intra- and inter-organizational collaboration. Our findings show that use of e-business technologies impacts performance both directly and indirectly by promoting both measures of collaboration. Intra-firm collaboration is also found to have a direct impact on organizational performance. However, the impact of inter-organizational collaboration on performance is found to be only indirect, through the impact of intra-organizational collaboration. These findings reveal the complexity of organizational collaboration, underscore the importance for companies to promote internal collaboration, and invest in information technologies that facilitate it.