The Effect of Power on the Adoption of Interorganizational Information Systems: The Adoption Position Model

The adoption and implementation of interorganizational information systems (IOS) heavily depend upon the trading partner(s) of the focal organization. Power structures have been shown to have a positive effect on the adoption decision. The paper provides a critical literature review on the role of power in the IOS literature and introduces the Adoption Position model to address the shortcomings. The main argument is that power can act as a barrier to adoption as well, which has not been adequately addressed before. The model builds on previous research on IOS adoption and proposes that the relative power of a firm and its intent of adoption toward a specific IOS together predetermine its position in the decision. The result is a typology of adoption positions of two trading partners that serves as an explanatory and predictive tool for further research and hypothesis generation