信息技术采用对关系治理的影响:投入专用性的调节效应研究

Information Technology and Relational Governance:The Moderating Effect of Special Investment

随着信息技术在供应链中的广泛应用,企业间的竞争合作已成为供应链成员生存和发展的战略选择,供应链合作伙伴关系治理越来越重要,制造商和供应商通过联合行动共同应付投入专用性等带来的问题,从而促进双方的合作。文章在分析和总结前人研究成果基础上,重点探讨信息技术采用对企业间关系治理的影响,以及在企业信息化过程中投入专用性和信任的调节作用,并运用来自海峡西岸经济区制造商和供应商的调研数据,利用基于调节效应的结构方程模型进行实证研究表明,在联合行动过程中,信任的调节作用显著,在事前的联合计划阶段,投入专用性的调节作用显著,而在后期的联合解决问题阶段,投入专用性的调节作用并不显著,为企业在信息系统采用过程中处理各种资产的专用性投入提供一些理论上的借鉴和实践上的启示。

With the development of information technology, competition and cooperation have become the strategic choices of enterprise sustainable survival and development, and relational governance has become more important. Manufacturer and supplier take joint action to deal with the problems of special investment, in order to effectively improve cooperation relationship. Based on previous studies, this paper makes an explorative study of the effect of information technology on inter-firm relational governance, and the moderating effect of special investment and trust during enterprise informatization. With the support of information technology, special investment and trust both are important influencing factors to inter-firm relationship, the theory model of direct and indirect influence of these factors to relational governance during enterprise the process of informatization. Transaction-specific information technology （IT） investments are those investments intended to support a specific manufacturer-supplier relationship. The presence of trust and reciprocal investments have been described as important antecedents to inter-firm electronic cooperation. Electronic cooperation in interorganizational relationship has been generally explained as a function of IOS, and IS （Information System） literature has called this IOS-induced cooperation as electronic integration, electronic interdependence, information partnership, or relational governance. The model emphasizes different role of these factors in different stage of joint action, and make further research on relational governance in support of information technology. The variables are measured against measurement standards, and by applying the data collected from 281 effective interviews, the theory model is empirically verified in both aspects of the dynamic process of joint action： joint planning and joint problem solving. With evidence from manufacturers and suppliers of economic zone in the west coast of Taiwan Strait, the empirical results based on SEM show that the moderating effect of trust is significant in joint action, the moderating effect of special investment is significant during prior joint planning, but not significant during post joint problem solving, which can give some inspiration on building special information system.