The Role of IT in Customer Satisfaction in Inter-Organizational Relationships

There is an increasing use of modern information technology (IT) in nearly all parts of business life – and inter-organizational relationships are no exemption from this. However the role of IT in relationships is not really understood so far. In this paper we analyze the role of IT in relation to customer satisfaction in business-to-business relationships. We argue that the way in which a customer is treated IT-wise will influence the way the customer is satisfied with a supplier. However, IT satisfaction is assumed to be only one part of the overall satisfaction besides other satisfaction dimensions such as product and service. An empirical study of 131 supplier-customer relationships reveals that IT satisfaction is a separate dimension of the overall satisfaction. Furthermore IT satisfaction has a positive impact on perceived relationship value and trust. The degree of IT use and supplier’s IT know-how are identified as important antecedents of customer’s IT satisfaction. Overall, IT satisfaction is an important influencer of inter-organizational relationships. Managerial implications and further research questions are discussed at the end of the paper.