IT-enabled Interactions and Interfirm Cooperation: The Role of Network Transparency

The social network in which suppliers and buyers are embedded in becomes increasingly transparent with the prevalence of IT. However, most prior research about the underlying paths by which IT-enabled interactions affect interfirm cooperation focuses on the dyadic relationship transparency, but overlooks the role of network structure transparency. Based on the social capital theory, the network governance theory, and IT literature, we propose a conceptual model to elaborate on the role of network structure transparency in this influence mechanism, and compare its influence effects with that of dyadic relationship transparency. Specially, we suggest that IT-enabled interactions improve both dyadic relationship transparency and network structure transparency, which in turn improve interfirm resource matching and subsequently interfirm cooperation. Interfirm position asymmetry exaggerates the positive relationship between network structure transparency and resource matching, while has no moderating role on the relationship between dyadic relationship transparency and resource matching. We collected data from 240 manufacturing firms in China, and the results strongly support our hypotheses.