From national to supranational government inter-organizational systems: An extended typology

Abstract

While inter-organizational systems (IOS) driven by supranational government (here referred to as supranational IOS or SN IOS) are increasingly being developed in practice, this phenomenon remains largely unexplored in the existing literature. What makes SN IOS specifically interesting is that their development and implementation is driven by supranational bodies (rather than businesses or national governments), implying that Member States have given up some of their decision-making power to higher level bodies and are bound to implement the decisions of these bodies. A key question then becomes: Are the processes for standards and system development and adoption of SN IOS distinct from IOS processes driven by businesses or national governments and, if so, what makes them different? Building on a novel typology and a case study of one SN IOS, our findings suggest that both industry and SN IOS exhibit similarities in terms of the role that intermediary organizations play as well as the processes through which standards are negotiated. These similarities can be used for transferability of knowledge between the two domains. We also demonstrate that there are inherent differences in terms of drivers, focus, approach, adoption incentives and the role of national governments. These differences require further attention and different considerations. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.