Electronic data interchange: an evaluation of alternative organizational forms [An article from: Accounting, Organizations and Society]

This digital document is a journal article from Accounting, Organizations and Society, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has come to revolutionize in recent years the way in which businesses conduct their trading activities. This study examines alternative organizational forms for EDI processing within organizations and evaluates them on several task performance indices including independence, saturation, and satisfaction, and also relates them to EDI effectiveness as a function of information technology (IT) intensity and length of EDI use. Results from an extensive, two-phase survey of EDI users indicate that organizational form for EDI processing influenced task performance indices such that the more decentralized structures (i.e. star and circle structures) exhibited higher independence and lower saturation than the more centralized structures (i.e. wheel, kite, and chain structures). More decentralized forms also exhibited higher satisfaction with EDI than the more centralized forms on nonroutine EDI tasks. EDI task performance indices were also correlated with EDI effectiveness, such that higher independence, lower saturation, and higher satisfaction were associated with higher EDI effectiveness. IT intensity and length of EDI use also positively moderated the effects of decentralization on EDI effectiveness. These results are discussed in terms of the organizational implications of this strategic IT resource: EDI.