EDI and the Moderator Effect of Interorganizational Cooperation in the Supply Chain

Abstract

A line of research that has received little attention in the literature is the influence that the company's degree of interorganizational cooperation in the supply chain has on the adoption/use of electronic data interchange (EDI). In this article, we develop a research model to study the influence of interorganizational cooperation on the drivers of EDI adoption and use. In the article, we test several research hypotheses on a sample of Spanish automotive suppliers. The empirical results indicate that automotive suppliers that have adopted EDI perceive more operational benefits, more external pressure, more mutual understanding, and fewer technical and organizational difficulties than nonadopters. On the other hand, EDI intensive users are early adopters, have a proactive management, and perceive more strategic benefits, fewer cost difficulties, and fewer organizational difficulties. The results also indicate that cooperation is a moderator for EDI adoption and use. High-cooperation companies may have fewer difficulties to integrate EDI within their organizations in comparison to low-cooperation companies. Similarly, high-cooperation companies also perceive more strategic benefits in the adoption of EDI than low-cooperation companies. These results suggest that EDI promoters in the supply chain should address high-cooperation companies first to provide information and incentives on positive strategic benefits to users. This group of companies would potentially benefit more than others, as they will have the least resistance to adopt EDI.