By taking advantage of the Internet, a new generation of Interorganizational Information
Systems, i.e., Internet electronic data interchange (I-EDI) provides great efficiency
for performing business-to-business transactions and is much more affordable than
other network alternatives. Few empirical studies have been conducted to examine the
adoption of I-EDI and little guidance has been given to the practitioners in the field.
To fill this void, this research investigates the adoption of I-EDI by U.S. enterprises
based on a comprehensive framework. Results from an online survey of 219 organizational
respondents indicate that the proposed framework is able to help explain organizational
adoption of I-EDI. This study provides insights and interesting findings toward technology
adoption in Internet era. While some new factors are found to play important roles
in IOS adoption, several conventional factors, such as technology compatibility and
organization size, are no longer significant in explaining the adoption of I-EDI.
Different effects of interorganizational factors such as power, trust, and relationship
commitment on I-EDI adoption have been revealed. Implications for researchers and
practitioners are provided.
