Mobile Technology Usage in Business Relationships

Abstract

Business relationships have been studied for decades (Wilkinson, 2001). However, the literature has been criticized of the lack of focus on information technology (IT) usage within business relationships (Reid & Plank, 2000). As managers have started to employ digital tools such as the Internet, intranets, and extranets, buyer-seller relationship scholars have realized the need to focus on IT deployment within relationships. There is a growing body of research that focuses on the different types of technologies being employed such as electronic data interchange (EDI) (Naudé, Holland, & Sudbury, 2000), Internet-based EDI (Angeles, 2000), and extranet (Vlosky, Fontenot, & Blalock, 2000) and their influence on business relationships. Nevertheless, mobile technology usage within business relationships is a nascent field of scientific inquiry. Besides buyer-seller relationship literature, mobile commerce (MC) (conducting commercial activities via mobile networks) literature also noticeably lacks academic research on business usage of mobile technology (Okazaki, 2005; Scornavacca, Barnes, & Huff, 2005). By combining these indications for further research from the buyer-seller relationship and MC fields it can be argued that there is a clear call for research in this area. Hence, I aim to bridge some aspects of the identified research gap. The research gap is filled in by discussing bonding within buyer-seller relationships to illustrate how mobile technologies create a novel bond in business relationships. It is acknowledged that some research on the adoption of mobile technology in the business context exists (see e.g., Kadyté, 2005). The paper is organized as follows: First, a brief discussion of the background of business relationships, mobile technologies, and bonding is provided. Then, I highlight how mobile technologies are used within relationships with a case study. After that, future trends in this pertinent area are presented. The paper finishes with a concluding discussion.