Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Article information:
To cite this document:
Anthony K. Asare Thomas G. Brashear-Alejandro Jun Kang , (2016),"B2B technology adoption in customer driven supply
chains", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 31 Iss 1 pp. 1 - 12
Permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-02-2015-0022
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:365403 []
For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service
information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit
www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
Thomas G. Brashear-Alejandro
Department of Marketing, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, and
Jun Kang
Introduction
Supply chains are being driven by the customer, and the goal
of supply chains is no longer to improve the material flows of
a small group of selected first tier suppliers but rather to satisfy
the ever-changing needs of the ultimate consumer (Svensson,
2002). Since 2001, The Campbell Soup Company has shifted
its supply chain emphasis from reducing costs to focusing
more on their business customers and end consumers (Clark,
2004). Procter & Gamble also won the Manufacturer of the
Year Award for replacing their traditional cost-cutting supply
chain focus with a Customer-Driven Supply Network that
enables them to focus more on satisfying the changing needs
of their customers (Sowinsky, 2004).
To respond to the ever-changing needs of the customer,
compete with other competitor-led supply networks, and
manage their complex global multilayered partnership
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0885-8624.htm
Literature review
Attributes of an innovation
Researchers of both individual and organizational technology
adoption have extensively used the attributes of an innovation
model and have found that these attributes usually account for a
large amount of variance in organizational adoption of
innovations (Russell and Hoag, 2004). Borrowing from decades
of diffusion research, Rogers (1983) identified five main
attributes of innovation: relative advantage, compatibility,
complexity, trialability and observability.
Relative Advantage is the degree to which an innovation is
perceived as being better than the existing idea that is being
replaced (OCallaghan et al., 1992). Past research almost
universally finds a positive relationship between relative
advantage and rate of adoption, and researchers find relative
advantage to be one of the strongest predictors of adoption
(Rogers, 2003). Complexity refers to the degree to which an
innovation is believed to be difficult to understand, use or
implement (Rogers, 2003). Complexity has been widely found
to have a negative influence on adoption and it is believed that
the more complex an innovation, the less likely for it to be
adopted (Sia et al., 2004). Compatibility refers to the degree to
which an innovation is perceived to be consistent with the
adopters internal culture, business processes, management
practices and communication protocols (OCallaghan et al.,
1992). Greater compatibility is usually more preferable
because it presents the adopter with less uncertainty and
allows the interpretation of the innovation in a more familiar
context (Sia et al., 2004). Trialability refers to the degree to
which an innovation can be experienced on a limited basis
before adoption (Rogers, 2003) and is believed to be positively
associated with adoption since it helps to reduce uncertainty in
the adoption process (Al-Gahatani, 2003). Observability
refers to the degree to which the results of an innovation can
be easily observed (Venkatesh et al., 2003) and is usually
positively related to its adoption.
Other researchers have modified Rogers perceived
attributes of innovation model. Prominent among them are
Moore and Benbasat (1991) who identified two further
constructs image and voluntariness. Image refers to the
ability for an innovation to enhance the adopters social status
in a social system, and voluntariness refers to the adopters
Organizational
Characteristics
Size
Centralization
Management
Support
IT Readiness
Relative
Advantage
Complexity
Compatibility
Testability
Observability
Cost
Technology
Adoption
External
Environment
Environmental
Uncertainty
Competitive
Pressure
Industry
Support
Inter-firm
Relationships
Power
Justice
Trust
P1.
Trialability
This refers to the degree to which an innovation can be
experienced on a limited basis before adoption (Rogers,
2003). Trials can help the adopter understand how to use the
innovation, thus making it less complex and easier to
understand when they later adopt it (Al-Gahatani, 2003).
They also enable the adopter to find and solve major problems
before rolling out the solution over a larger portion of the
company. Before fully adopting RFID, The Campbell Soup
Company conducted a pilot test in its Texas facility by tagging
over 1,000 cases and 90 pallets, while Unilever North America
conducted an RFID trial to gain operational insights into its
business case (Clark, 2004). Trialability is positively
associated with adoption (Al-Gahatani, 2003), and so we
propose that:
Complexity
The technology adoption literature identifies three different
dimensions of complexity: complexity to understand;
complexity to use; and complexity to implement. However,
inter-firm technology adoption researchers rarely use all
dimensions in their definition of complexity. For example, Sia
et al. (2004) focus on complexity to implement while Karahanna
et al. (1999) only emphasize complexity of use. Our definition of
complexity encompasses all three dimensions, and in line with
Rogers (2003) we define complexity as the degree to which an
innovation is difficult to implement, use and understand.
Highly complex technologies are usually seen as a barrier to
technology adoption (Lin and Ho, 2009) since they are usually
difficult to implement, can lead to costly and widespread
disruptions and in general discourage decision makers in an
organization from adopting and implementing a technology.
Complexity has been widely found to have a negative
influence on adoption (Sia et al., 2004), and so we propose
that:
P2.
P4.
Observability
This construct has been defined differently by different
authors. While some authors emphasize the demonstrability of
the results of the innovation (Al-Gahatani, 2003; Sonnenwald
et al., 2001), others define it in terms of the visibility of the
innovation itself (Moore and Benbasat, 1991). Although the
visibility of the technology itself is important in individual
technology adoption contexts, it is less important in inter-firm
environments since companies adopt technology because of
what it can do for them and not because of its visibility. What
is more important to the company is whether the results of the
technology being adopted can be easily demonstrated or
quantified. If the innovation can be directly tied to economic
indicators like increased sales, profitability or return on
investment, it is more likely to be adopted than if it is tied to
indicators that are more difficult to demonstrate. Since
observability is usually positively related to adoption, we
propose that:
Compatibility
In the individual adoption literature, the compatibility of a
technology is usually determined by how compatible the
technology is with elements of the individuals social system
(Rogers, 2003). Inter-firm technologies however present a
unique compatibility problem because not only does the
technology have to be compatible with the organization
(organizational compatibility), but it also has to be compatible
with the existing technology systems that it is going to
interface with (systems compatibility). Systems compatibility
is very important in technology adoption and refers to
compatibility between the technology and the organizations
existing software, hardware, back office computer systems and
other technology systems and resources (Lin and Ho, 2009).
Organizational compatibility, on the other hand, refers to
compatibility between the innovation and the adopters
internal culture, business processes and management practices
(OCallaghan et al., 1992). Too often, organizational
compatibility is ignored during a technology adoption process,
leading to disastrous consequences for the adoption process.
Following OCallaghan et al. (1992), we classify compatibility
into two separate categories, organizational and system
compatibilities, enabling us to cover both very important
dimensions of compatibility. Since compatibility is positively
related to technology adoption (Premkumar and
Ramamurthy, 1995; Sia et al., 2004), we propose that:
P5.
Cost of innovation
The cost of an innovation is one of the most important factors
that affect a firms decision to adopt B2B technologies, and the
cost of RFID, for example, is one of the major factors limiting
that technologys adoption (Frost and Sullivan, 2005; Growe,
2004). Two main types of costs are associated with the
adoption of an innovation: direct and indirect costs. Direct
costs refer to those costs associated with acquiring the
technology, while indirect costs are the costs associated with
using, implementing and maintaining the technology.
Although the cost of an innovation is an important
determinant of whether a technology should be adopted, the
construct is quite often ignored in the technology adoption
5
P8.
Organizational size
Size is one of the most commonly used measures of an
organizations innovativeness and has been both positively and
negatively associated with a firms decision to adopt a
technology. While large organizations usually have more
resources that they can use to adopt technologies, they are also
less flexible and unable to adapt quickly (Damanpour, 1996).
In spite of the different associations, the positive relationship
between size and organizational innovativeness holds across a
large number of investigations (Damanpour, 1996; Patterson
et al., 2003; Rogers, 2003). Since the positive relationship
between size and organizational adoption of technologies
holds across a large number of investigations, we propose that:
Organizational factors
The TASC model identifies organizational factors as
important determinants of inter-firm technology adoption,
and the following are some of the organizational
characteristics that TASC identifies as important antecedents
of technology adoption.
P9.
Management support
This refers to the extent to which senior executives of an
organization support an innovation. Management support
does not refer to mere approval from top management but
requires active and enthusiastic support that can be
transmitted through the whole organization (Grover, 1993).
Support from management is even more important in the case
of inter-firm technology adoption since this type of adoption is
usually expensive, complicated and requires long-term vision
and interaction among trading partners (Premkumar and
Ramamurthy, 1995). Grover (1993) empirically tested the
effects of top management support and found a strong
relationship between management support and the decision to
adopt inter-firm technologies. Premkumar and Ramamurthy
(1995) also found empirical support for the effects of top
management support on inter-firm technology adoption.
Since top management support has been found to have a
positive effect on the adoption of technology by an
organization (Damanpour, 1991, we propose that:
P7.
IT readiness
This construct is associated with the level of sophistication of
IT management (Iacovou et al., 1995). Companies that have
sophisticated IT environments adopt technologies easier than
those with less sophisticated IT environments since
sophisticated IT firms are more likely to have the necessary
expertise and resources in-house to adopt and implement the
technology (Iacovou et al., 1995; Mouzakitis and Askounis,
2010; Qu and Wang, 2011; Zhang and Dhaliwal, 2009).
Grover (1993) found that IS infrastructure and planning
strongly predicted a companys decision to adopt technology,
and Premkumar and Ramamurthy (1995) also found that the
level of IT sophistication of a company has a positive and
significant relationship with an organizations decision to
adopt a technology. Since IT readiness is positively associated
with technology adoption (Premkumar and Ramamurthy,
1995), we propose that:
P10. IT readiness is positively associated with an
organizations intention to adopt B2B technologies.
External factors
External factors represent factors outside the organization that
can have a significant impact on the organizations
performance (Sia et al., 2004), and the innovation literature
consistently recognizes that environmental factors influence
technology adoption (Grover and Goslar, 1993). TASC
identifies competitive pressure, environmental uncertainty
and industry support as major external influences affecting
technology adoption.
Centralization
This refers to the extent to which decision-making authority is
limited in an organization (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Kirca
et al., 2005). Lower-level managers in different functional
areas are more likely to possess greater knowledge of the
technology, operational-level problems and the business
processes than the higher-level executives (Amami and
Brimberg, 2004). Organizations with decentralized structures
are expected to adopt more innovative and cutting-edge
technologies (Kamaruddin and Udin, 2009). In organizations
where lower-level managers are not empowered to make
important decisions, new ideas and innovations are less likely
to be encouraged. Centralization is usually negatively
associated with organizational innovativeness since the more
centralized the decision making in an organization is, the less
innovative it has been found to be (Rogers, 2003). We
therefore propose that:
Competitive pressure
Companies are under pressure to adopt technologies when
their competitors or trading partners have either adopted that
technology or have the capability and desire to adopt it.
Chwelos et al. (2001) found competitive pressure to be the
single most important factor contributing to the adoption of
EDI. According to Premkumar and Ramamurthy (1995),
once their competitors adopt a technology, companies tend to
rush to adopt that technology even if they do not necessarily
need it. In a highly competitive market, companies are
6
Power
Power is defined as the ability of a firm to exert influence on
another firm (Frazier, 1983). Since inter-firm technology
adoption usually involves one company trying to influence the
other to adopt the technology, the amount of power that the
initiating company has is an important factor in the decision to
adopt technology. Power in inter-firm relationships is usually
a function of the level of dependence of the parties involved
and also the way in which the power is exercised (Hart and
Saunders, 1997). Gaski and Nevin (1985) distinguish
between potential and exercised power because firms may
have potential power but yet may not necessarily exercise it.
Power could be exercised in different ways. A persuasive
approach could be used to convince the adopting firms of the
benefits of adopting technology, or a more coercive approach
could be used in which threats and punishments instead of
inducements are used (Hart and Saunders, 1997). While both
persuasive and coercive approaches can influence a firms
decision to adopt technology, the coercive approach could
result in long-term damage to the relationship. Although
coercive power could lead to long-term negative outcomes, in
the short term, coercive power like persuasive power could
influence trading partners to adopt technology. In general,
partner power has a positive relationship with the adoption of
technologies (Zhang and Dhaliwal, 2009), we therefore
propose that:
Justice
Perceptions of justice are important to the maintenance and
quality of channel relationships (Gilliland and Manning,
2002; Kumar et al., 1995), and the perceptions of injustice or
unfairness by vulnerable channel partners may result in
hostility toward a partner initiating an activity that is perceived
to be unfair. In inter-firm technology adoption, the adoption
process is frequently initiated by a larger firm asking their
trading partners to adopt a technology that may be of limited
value to the firms being asked to adopt it (Iacovou et al.,
1995). When this happens, the target companies may consider
it unfair and resist the adoption of the technology (Suzuki and
Williams, 1998). To ensure that their trading partners adopt
the technology, the initiating companies frequently threaten
those who are reluctant to adopt the technology with
punishments like fines or termination of their contracts (Hart
and Saunders, 1997).
References
Adams, J.S. (1965), Inequity in social exchange, in
Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental and Social
Psychology, Academic Press, New York, NY.
Al-Gahatani, S.S. (2003), Computer technology adoption in
Saudi Arabia: correlates of perceived innovation attributes,
Information Technology for Development, Vol. 10 No. 1,
pp. 57-69.
Amami, M. and Brimberg, J. (2004), Technology diffusion:
the role of web systems, environment, and organizational
factors, Information Systems: Critical Perspectives, AIM.
Andaleeb, S.S. (1996), An experimental investigation of
satisfaction and commitment in marketing channels: the
role of trust and dependence, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 72
No. 1, pp. 77-93.
Anderson, E., Lodish, L.M. and Barton, A.W. (1987),
Resource allocation behavior in conventional channels,
Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 85-98.
Anderson, J.C. and Narus, J.A. (1990), A model of distributor firm
and manufacturer firm working partnerships, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 42-59.
Beugre, C.D. (1998), Implementing business process
reengineering: the role of organizational justice, The
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 34 No. 3,
pp. 347-360.
Bies, R.J. and Moag, J.S. (1986), Interactional justice:
communication criteria of fairness, Research on Negotiations
in Organizations, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 43-55.
Brashear, T.G., Brooks, M.C. and Boles, J.S. (2004),
Distributive and procedural justice in a sales force context:
scale development and validation, Journal of Business
Research, Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 86-94.
Brown, S.A., Massey, A.P., Montoya-Weiss, M.M. and
Burkman, J.R. (2002), Do I really have to? User
acceptance of mandated technology, European Journal of
Information Systems, Vol. 11, pp. 283-295.
Cegielski, C.G., Jones-Farmer, L.A., Wu, Y. and Hazen, B.T.
(2012), Adoption of cloud computing technologies in
supply chains: an organizational information processing
theory approach, International Journal of Logistics
Management, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 184-211.
Chan, F.T.S. and Chong, A.Y.L. (2012), A SEM neural
network approach for understanding determinants of interorganizational system standard adoption and performances,
Decision Support Systems, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 621-630.
Chwelos, P., Benbasat, I. and Dexter, A.S. (2001), Research
report: empirical test of an EDI adoption model,
Information Systems Research, Vol. 12 No. 36, pp. 304-321.
Clark, T. (2004), In the spotlight, RFID 2004: Business
Benefits and Compliance, available at: http://consumergoods.
Conclusion
The goal of this research is to study the reasons why the
adoption of inter-firm technologies in supply chains succeed
or fail, and also to propose a framework for practitioners and
academics, that identifies the antecedents for the successful
adoption of inter-firm technologies. After reviewing the
literature on inter-firm technology adoption, it can be seen
that while each one explains part of the adoption process, most
of the major studies leave out very important constructs that
have been found to have significant influences on companys
decisions to adopt technologies (Chwelos et al., 2001). The
studies are also inconsistent in their choice of constructs and
as a result are inadequate in their efforts to explain why
companies adopt inter-firm technologies (Grover, 1993).
To solve these problems, the authors propose a
comprehensive framework that identifies the antecedents of
successful inter-firm technology adoption. The proposed
framework is substantially different from the existing supply
chain adoption models and introduces constructs that are new
to the adoption of supply chain literature. An important area
that has been ignored in the inter-firm adoption literature and
has been covered by the TASC framework is the impact of
inter-firm relationships on technology adoption. TASC
emphasizes the importance of inter-firm relationships and
identifies power, trust and justice as important relationships
that influence the adoption of inter-firm technologies.
9
edgl.com/Media/PublicationsArticle/9d63e75d79748a8ea5
aa60ce0d1b40de.pdf (accessed 25 April 2014).
Colquitt, J.A. (2001), On the dimensionality of
organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure,
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86 No. 3, pp. 386-400.
Colquitt, J.A., Conlon, D.E., Wesson, M.J., Porter, C.O.L.H.
and Ng, K.Y. (2001), Justice at the millennium: a
meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice
research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86 No. 3,
pp. 425-445.
Cook, J. and Wall, T. (1980), New work attitude measures of
trust, organizational commitment and personal need
non-fulfillment, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 53
No. 1, pp. 39-54.
Damanpour, F. (1991), Organizational innovation: a
meta-analysis of effects of determinants and moderators,
Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34 No. 3,
pp. 555-590.
Damanpour, F. (1996), Organizational complexity and
innovation: developing and testing multiple contingency
models, Management Science, Vol. 42 No. 5, pp. 693-716.
Davis, F.D., Bagozzi, R.P. and Warshaw, P.R. (1989), User
acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two
theoretical models, Management Science, Vol. 35 No. 8,
pp. 982-1004.
Deutsch, M. (1975), Equity, equality, and need: what
determines which value will be used as the basis for
distributive justice, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 31 No. 3,
pp. 137-149.
Dwyer, F.R., Schurr, P.H. and Oh, S. (1987), Developing
buyer-seller relationships, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51
No. 2, pp. 11-27.
Frazier, G.L. (1983), On the measurement of interfirm
power in channels of distribution, Journal of Marketing
Research, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 158-167.
Fries, J.L., Turri, A.M., Bello, D.C. and Smith, R.J. (2010),
Factors that influence the implementation of collaborative
RFiD programs, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing,
Vol. 25 No. 8, pp. 590-595.
Frost and Sullivan (2005), Analysis of RFID Adoption and
Workforce Issues in North America, Computer Technology
Industry Association, available at: www.comptia.org/
(accessed 5 December 2005).
Gaski, J.F. and Nevin, J.R. (1985), The differential effects of
exercised and unexercised power sources in a marketing
channel, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 22 No. 2,
pp. 130-142.
Geyskens, I., Steenkamp, J.B.E.M. and Kumar, N. (1999),
A meta-analysis of satisfaction in marketing channel
relationships, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 36 No. 2,
pp. 223-238.
Gilliland, D.I. and Manning, K.C. (2002), When do firms
conform to regulatory control? The effect of control
processes on compliance and opportunism, Journal of
Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 319-331.
Greenberg, J. and Bies, R.J. (1992), Establishing the role of
empirical studies of organizational justice in philosophical
inquiries into business ethics, Journal of Business Ethics,
Vol. 11 Nos 5/6, pp. 433-444.
Further reading
Asare, A.K., Brashear, T.G., Granot, E. and Kashyap, V.
(2011), The role of channel orientation in B2B technology
adoption, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing,
Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 193-201.
11
Corresponding author
For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
12