An Information Processing Model of Information Systems Impact on Interorganizational Coordination

There has been much speculation that information technology can be used to enhance coordination across organizations. The research on the matter is less than convincing, in part due to the absence of models that capture the complexity of the phenomenon, and in part due to problems of measurement. In this research we use the framing device of the information processing model of organization, extended to interorganizational operations. We test the information processing model in the interorganizational context of the scheduled air cargo industry. Using data from a survey of US forwarders, we find that interactions between several dimensions of information processing requirements and information processing capabilities significantly explain variance in operational performance. In particular we find that the information systems variables interact with task variability, task analyzability, buyer independence and supplier independence on the dependent variable, on-time performance. The findings provide partial support for the proposed information processing model and suggest that information systems do enhance interorganizational coordination, although many challenges remain in fully explicating the ways in which this occurs