Literature Review

In chapter 2, we discussed the findings of an initial exploratory survey. In this chapter we undertake an in-depth literature review of business-to-business e-commerce and the importance of trust. The task of undertaking a literature review is challenging, especially when it involves theories from multiple disciplines. The chapter begins with a discussion of e-commerce from two perspectives: a technological perspective (including technology trust mechanisms), and a social perspective (discussing trust behaviours in business relationships). Incorporated into the analysis are previous theories that focus on organizational behaviour (inter-organizational relationships), economic perspective (transaction-cost-economics theory), and political perspective (resource dependency theory). The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. First, we discuss the literature pertaining to the need for inter-organizational trust and provide definitions of trust from multi-disciplines, as well as characteristics and the development of trust in business relationships. This is followed by a discussion of the perceived benefits, perceived risks, and technology trust mechanisms in e-commerce leading to outcomes of e-commerce participation. Then, we examine the organizational, economic, and political theories leading to the evolution of inter-organizational systems to inter-organizational trust. Finally, we conclude the chapter with the development of the conceptual model of inter-organizational trust in e-commerce participation, leading to a justification of the research propositions derived from the model.

Findings and Discussion

Chapter 4 provided a description and discussion of the research method chosen to test the conceptual model of inter-organizational trust in e-commerce participation. In this chapter, we report and discuss the findings of the bi-directional dyads by first providing the background information of each case followed by their findings based on the research propositions. Finally, we discuss the findings from a cross-case analysis leading to similarities and differences of the findings.

Introduction

In this chapter we introduce the motivation for the study and discuss the background of inter-organizational trust, followed by significant prior research leading to a rationale of this study. Then we discuss previous research in e-commerce adoption, its history, growth, and an analysis of the factors that drive and inhibit e-commerce adoption. E-commerce is the sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of telecommunications networks (Zwass, 1996:3). E-commerce applications facilitate communication and information exchanges between organizations, thereby enabling mass manufacturing, production, and customization to occur (Giaglis et al., 1998). E-commerce is changing the shape of competition, the dynamics of trading partner relationships, and the speed of fulfillment (Kalakota and Robinson, 2001). In this study, a trading partner is considered to be an organization which engages in business-to-business e-commerce. Trading partners can play various roles of suppliers, merchants, brokers, or customers. They interact with one another to form Inter-organizational relationships (IOR’s). To avoid the possibility of anthropomorphizing the organization, and inferring that the trustor is an organization, inter-firm trust is viewed as the collectively held cognitive belief of a group of well-informed individuals within a firm (Zaheer, McEvily, and Perrone, 1998). Thus, in this study the terms trading partner trust and inter-organizational trust are used interchangeably.

Initial Exploratory Study

In this chapter, we discuss an initial exploratory study conducted via a survey that aimed to examine the extent of e-commerce adoption in Australia and New Zealand. First, the chapter discusses the respondents’ profile followed by the key findings that pertained to potential versus achieved benefits, and potential versus perceived barriers and risks. Then we provide a comparison of the findings between Europe and Australia, and New Zealand. Finally, we conclude the chapter with characteristics of e-commerce adopters, namely leaders who have succeeded in e-commerce adoption versus followers who have not, leading to recommendations, lessons learned, and the future of e-commerce in Australia and New Zealand.

Conclusions

In this chapter we conclude our study by contributing to a model of inter-organizational trust within bi-directional dyads based on the findings of this study. The participants agreed that technology trust mechanisms (also known as technology trust) by and large exist in e-commerce technologies and applications. Technology trust is defined as “the subjective probability by which an organization believes that the underlying technology infrastructure and control mechanisms are capable of facilitating inter-organizational transactions according to its confident expectations” (Ratnasingam and Pavlou, 2002, 2003). However, what is more important is the need to develop trading partner relationships that will form cohesive (win-win) trading partner relationships. Most of the participants agreed that developing trust is a gradual process and can be challenging because of differing personalities and expectations, the lack of a physical presence, varied standards used within each organization, and the changing external e-commerce environment. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. The next section presents and discusses the model of inter-organizational trust within bi-directional dyads. Then we discuss the contributions to theory and practice, leading to the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.

Research Model

In chapter 3, we reviewed the current literature from theories in multi-disciplines leading to the development of the conceptual model of inter-organizational trust in e-commerce participation. In this chapter, we first discuss different research methods in information systems followed by analysis of quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Then we provide the reasons for selecting a case study research method followed by a description of the research process, design, and instrumentation of the conceptual model, leading to a semi-structured questionnaire, data collection, and data analysis procedures that take into consideration the validity of data.