Abstract:

The communication is questioning the role of the New Information and Communication Tools in the development of inter-organizational buyer-seller cooperative relationships. Based on an integration of information systems and marketing theories, this paper's objective is to show that new information technologies have a structuring effect on buyer-seller relationships. A cross-section multi-activities study among 151 purchasing managers, all members of the French Buying Association (C.D.A.F.), has been undertaken. Results confirm that structural dimensions of complexity and formalization are positively influenced by New Information and Communication Tools. But the hypothesis of a decentralizing effect is not supported. The restrictive operationalization of New Information Technologies as a set of information and communication tools allows a specification of the structuring effect as function of the nature and type of tools adopted.