Factors Influencing Negotiation in the Sourcing Process between Partners in E-Procurement: A Focus on Actors

Negotiation is an essential business activity for establishing trade relationships between partners (Yuan and Turel 2004). As the business environment becomes more dynamic in this global setting, negotiation between partners is required more often. Negotiation is the key decision-making approach used to reach consensus whenever partners cannot achieve their goals (Thompson 2000). Advanced technologies such as e-procurement can facilitate effective solutions for negotiation between trading partners (Bichler et al 2003). With the shift from traditional procurement to electronic procurement, there is a need to explore the social issues in the negotiation process and in the electronic procurement environment in particular. Actor Network Theory (ANT) will be used as guidance. Through a case study at an Australian University, factors influencing negotiation in the sourcing process between partners in their e-procurement environment were identified. The significance of this research is to provide knowledge to practitioners on the importance of the negotiation process between partners in an e-procurement network. Furthermore, identifying and understanding the social issues that influence the negotiation process will improve the value chain between partners. As such, it is hoped that greater success with e-procurement will be achieved.