The relationship between information technology use and buyer-supplier relationships: an exploratory analysis of the buying firm's perspective

No doubt exists that information technology is emerging as a key resource in the purchasing process. Concurrently, buyer-supplier relationships are changing. The purpose of this research is to determine if there is a relationship between the use of information technology and buyer-supplier relationships. A brief review of the literature on the use of information technology in purchasing is provided. Next, the nature of buyer-supplier relationships is discussed. Triangulation-involving field interviews followed by a mail survey-was used to collect data and attempt to answer the three research questions. The three questions were the following. (1) What is the relationship between the use of information technology and frequency of information shared between buyers and suppliers? (2) What is the relationship between the use of information technology and the richness of information shared between buyers and suppliers? (3) What is the relationship between the use of information technology and buyer-supplier trust? Information technology is defined in terms of automated purchasing systems, supplier links via electronic data interchange, information systems and computer-to-computer links with key suppliers. The research results suggest that three of the different types of information technology were significantly related to the frequency of information shared among buyers. Two of the different types of information technology were significantly related to the richness of information shared. However, only one of the types of information technology appears to be significantly related to trust among buyers and suppliers.