Internal and external interorganizational relationships and their impact on the adoption of new technology: An exploratory study

Abstract

This article examines internal and external interorganizational relationships and their impact on the probability of organizational adoption of new technologies. First, the paper provides an overview of existing adoption-diffusion research along with a new conceptual framework that links internal and external interorganizational relationships among various industrial groups to the adoption-diffusion process. Based on this new conceptual framework, we formulate hypotheses and an empirical model. The model is estimated using data from 12 technology development projects funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The results suggest that interorganizational relationships vary across industries and play a significant role in the adoption decisions of organizations. The results also suggest that external technology transfer agents facilitate this process.