Article ID: | iaor20013715 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 4 |
Start Page Number: | 243 |
End Page Number: | 251 |
Publication Date: | Dec 2000 |
Journal: | European Journal of Information Systems |
Authors: | Johnston R.B., Gregor S. |
Keywords: | communication, organization, computers: information |
Increasingly we wish to ask and research questions about the adoption of interorganizational systems and electronic commerce at the industry level but are hampered by the lack of a theory of concerted purposeful action at this large level of analysis. In this paper we give the outlines of such a theory and indicate the uses to which it can be put. Particular attention is paid to how the routine day-to-day activities of the firms and support organizations that make up an industry group can be coordinated in such a way that we can speak of an industry as engaged in purposeful activity. We contend that only through a deep understanding of the possibilities and nature of routine coordinated activity at this level can issues concerning promotion, implementation and adoption of interorganizational systems by whole industries be properly framed.