The impact of information technology deployment on trust, commitment and value creation in business relationships

Abstract

To strengthen their position in today's highly‐competitive and fast‐paced business environment, supplier firms often engage in relationships with their customers. Recent advances in information technology offer new ways of managing inter‐organizational relationships. In this paper, a model conceptualizing the impact of information technology deployment on inter‐organizational buyer‐seller relationships is developed. Using an empirical study of 61 German firms engaged in customer‐supplier relationships, this paper also gives some empirical evidence for the developed framework. With regard to relationship management, intra‐ and inter‐organizational information technology deployment has different effects on relationship atmosphere and on the relationship's value creation. The findings give new insight into the role of information technology in value‐creation in business‐to‐business relationships. Managerial implications and future research questions in this area are also discussed.