E-business diffusion: A measure of E-communication effectiveness on the E-enabled interorganizational collaboration

Abstract

Globalized business forces many organizations apply the e-business technologies to facilitate collaboration relationships and the integration all business partners' activities and their systems. The role of e-business management is not only to facilitate information sharing, but also to enhance communication and collaboration. Mismeasured and ineffective collaboration occurs when e-enabled e-communication and e-business innovation are not included in the measurement package. The suitability of e-business diffusion was developed from Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and assessed in a case study of Hangzhou Alibaba Electronic Organization. Alibaba runs one of the largest online e-commerce platforms in China - Taobao. Based on the case study and survey on e-collaboration technologies in outward collaboration via Alibaba's e-communication channel, related analyses (such as validity tests, reliability and factor analysis) were performed to understand the role of e-business diffusion in measuring interorganizational collaboration. The study also discusses the appropriateness of e-business diffusion theory as a measure of collaboration success and reorganizes the expanded role of e-communication in interorganizational collaboration. The most notable attributes are relative advantage, complexity, trialability and observability. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.