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Trang 3Interorganizational Relationships and Information Services: How Technical and Institutional Environments Influence
Data Gathering Practices
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Computer Science
by
Roberta Ellen Lamb
Committee in charge:
Professor Rob Kling, Chair
Professor John L King
Professor Mark Poster
Trang 4Copyright 1997 by Lamb, Roberta Ellen
All rights reserved
UMI Microform 9727177
Copyright 1997, by UME Company All rights reserved
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
UMI
Trang 6and is acceptable in quality and form for publication om miterofilm: v “ opie Chair
Trang 7In memory of Catherine Stewart Harris and Rose Magnell Pione
Trang 8LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF FIGURES viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
CURRICULUM VITAE xi
ABSTRACT xiv
CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Motivation 1
1.1 Informational Imperatives and Online Resources 2
1.2 Research Question 6
1.3 Study Scope and Organization 7
1.4 Research Strategy and Field Research Notes 10
1.5 Predominant Themes 12
CHAPTER 2 Organizing Perspectives on Interorganizational
Relationships 15
2.1 What are Interorganizational Relationships? 15 2.2 Why Interorganizational Relationships Involve Information
Gathering 17
2.2.1 Interorganizational Relationships, Risk and Mediation 18
2.2.2 Information and Uncertainty 20
2.2.3 Information Structures 22
2.2.4 Institutional and Technical Environments 24
2.3 Information Systems 26
2.4 — Information Science 32
2.5 Summary of Organizing Perspectives on [nterorganizational
Relationships 36
CHAPTER 3 Methods, Sampling and Data Collection 39
3.1 ‘Introduction 39
3.2 Measuring Change Through Cross-Sectional Data Collection 40
3.3 Law Firms, Biotech Companies and Real Estate Brokerages 40
3.4 Site Selection 42
3.5 Intermediary Activities and Supplement, Replacement or
Change 44
3.6 The Online Information Resource Corpus 44
Trang 9CHAPTER 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.5.1 4.5.2 4.5.3 4.5.4 4.5.5 4.6 CHAPTER 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 3.5 5.5.1 5.5.2 5.5.3 5.5.4 5.5.5 5.6 CHAPTER 6 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.5.1
Data Gathering Practices and Interorganizational Relationships in Biotechnology
Introduction
A Brief History of Biotechnology
Interorganizational Relationships in Biotechnology Clinical Trials
Data Gathering Practices in Biotechnology Companies Institutional Proximity
Profiling Partners, Competitors and Markets Perceived Utility of Information Resources
Hybrid Specialists
Role-Based Data Exchange
Summary of Data Gathering Related Practices and Interorganizational Relationships
Data Gathering Practices and Interorganizational Relationships in Law
Introduction
A Social Perspective on the Legal Industry Interorganizational Relationships in Law Expert Witnesses
Data Gathering Practices in Law Firms Role-Based Data Exchange
Profiling Experts, Judges and Clients Institutional Proximity
Hybrid Specialists
Perceived Utility of Information Resources
Summary of Data Gathering Related Practices and Interorganizational Relationships
Data Gathering Practices and Interorganizational Relationships in Real Estate
Introduction
The Rise and Fall of California Properties Interorganizational Relationships in Real Estate Real Estate Investors
Data Gathering Practices in Real Estate Perceived Utility of Information Resources 6.5.1.1 The information package
6.5.1.2 The client-broker relationship
6.5.1.3 Related perceptions
6.5.2
6.5.3 Hybrid Specialists Profiling Properties, Markets, Clients and Brokers
Trang 10CHAPTER 7 71 7.1.1 7.1.2 7.1.3 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.4.1 7.4.2 7.4.3 7.4.4 7.4.5 7.5 7.5.1 7.6 CHAPTER 8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 REFERENCES APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III APPENDIX IV APPENDIX V Interorganizational Relationships
Understanding Data Gathering Incentives Thematic Comparison
Major findings of the study
Interorganization relationships shape data gathering A multiplicity of rationalities
Information Infrastructures
Technical and Institutional Pressures Data Gathering Dynamics
How and when do interorganizational relationships shape
data gathering activities?
When are online information resources used?
How and when do organizational individuals use online
resources to mediate interorganizational relationships?
And when do they use other resources, such as print-based media or personal contacts to mediate interorganizational relationships?
Data gathering for information scientists
Roles, Relationships and the Migration of Practices What kinds of data gathering practices develop? A View of Data Gathering Practices from Information Systems and Communications Research Perspectives Summary and Conclusions
A Theoretical Contribution A Better Explanation Insights for Management A Basis for Future Work
Trang 11Table 2.1.1 Table 2.2.2.1 Table 2.5.1 Table 3.4.1 Table 3.7.1 Table 4.3.1 Table 4.4.2 Table 4.6.1 Table 4.6.2 Table 5.3.1 Table 5.6.1 Table 5.6.2 Table 6.3.1 Table 6.6.1 Table 6.6.2 Table 7.1.2.1 Table 7.1.3.1 Table 7.2.1 Table 8.1.1 Table IÍ.1 Table III.1 Table IV.1 Table V.1
Literature Review of Interorganizational Relationship Types 17 Literature Review of Data Gathering Rationalities and
Organizational Behaviors 21
What Has Been Studied and What is Left Unexplained 37
Geographical Industry Distribution of Systematic Study
Sites 43
Informant Role Distribution of Systematic Interviews 46 Interorganizational Relationships Mentioned by the
Biotechnology Firms in the Sample 56
Drug Discovery and Development Timetable 61
Thematic Recap of Data Gathering Related Practices 90
Practices, Infrastructure and Relationships in Biotechnology
Companies 91
Interorganizational Relationships Mentioned by Law Firms 103 Thematic Recap of Data Gathering Related Practices 142 Practices, Infrastructure and Relationships in Law Firms 143 Interorganizational Relationships Mentioned by Real Estate
Brokerages 156
Thematic Recap of Data Gathering Related Practices 191
Practices, Infrastructure and Relationships in Real Estate
Brokerages 192
Consolidated Thematic Recap of Data Gathering Related Practices with Interorganizational Relationships 197 Literature Review of Data Gathering Rationalities and
Organizational Behaviors (Table 2.2.2.1) 202
Consolidated Selected Infrastructure and Interorganizational
Relationships 205
Two Contrasting Explanations of Organizational
Information Resource Use 235
Interview Distribution 258
Data Analysis Details 260
Online Usage Site Rankings 265
Site Statistics 266
Trang 12Figure 2.2.4.1 Figure 4.2.1 Figure 4.2.2 Figure 4.4.1 Figure 5.2.1 Figure 5.2.2 Figure 6.2.1 Figure 6.2.2 Figure 7.3.1
Technical and Institutional Environments with Illustrative
Organizations 25
Revenue and Employee Statistics for Biotech Companies of
the Study 54
Revenue Profile of the Biotech Industry 55
Drug Discovery and Development 60
Revenue and Employee Statistics for Law Firms of
the Study 98
Revenue Profile of the Legal Industry 98
Revenue and Employee Statistics for Real Estate
Brokerages of the Study 150
Revenue Profile of the Real Estate Industry 151 Technical and Institutional Environments with Additional Illustrative Organizations and Client Influences 210
Trang 13This dissertation has been a struggle to join two personal worlds the professional
and the academic That process could not even have begun without the flexibility,
tolerance and encouragement of my advisor Rob Kling Our continuing conversations and analytical conjecturings in California coffee shops and restaurants were instrumental to this work Also, this dissertation would not be possible without the generous
assistance of John King and Mark Poster, who patiently guided me toward more coherent presentations of this work
The substantive contributions of Jeanne Pickering, Lisa Covi and Margaret Elliott have also figured prominently in the evolution of this project My other colleagues in CORPS and GSM especially Ken Kraemer, Alladi Venkatesh, Mark Ackerman, Jonathan Grudin, J.P Allen, Beki Grinter, John Tillquist, Paul Forster, Suzanne Schaefer, Judy Scott, Heidi Keller and Young Kim have helped me grow in various ways I also wish to thank other members of the UCI faculty and administration, notably Creel Froman and Ross Quillian for their willingness to take a political science novice into their graduate discussions, and Dave Schetter and Peggy Bockman I would especially like to thank my partner Bryan Egan who has been both a source of inspiration and an unfailing supporter of my work
Trang 14In a time when promotional hype clouds discussions of information technologies, their candid explanations of how work is done sheds light on the processes of information technology in practice
Two figures have been reproduced in this thesis with the kind permission of the publishers Figure 4.4.1 was originally published in “Information Pathways in
Trang 15ROBERTA ELLEN LAMB
Department of Information and Computer Science University of California
Irvine, CA 92697
Internet: rlamb@ics.uci.edu
World Wide Web: http:/Avww.ics.uci.edu/~rlamb
Work phone: (714)453-4000 x1340 Fax: (714)450-4559
EDUCATION
Ph.D: University of California, Irvine
Information and Computer Science (1997)
Committee: Rob Kling (Chair), John L King, Mark Poster
Thesis Title: "Interorganizational Relationships and Information Services: How Technical and Institutional Environments Influence Data Gathering Practices"
M.S.: University of California, Irvine
Information and Computer Science (1994)
M.S.: California State University, Fullerton
Computer Science and Engineering (1989) B.S.: California State University, Fullerton
Computer Science and Engineering (1987)
WORK EXPERIENCE
1993-1997 —_ Program Manager, Application Technologies and Tools, Platinum Software Corporation, Irvine, CA
1996 Guest Lecturer, Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA
1994-1996 Faculty Lecturer, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, California State University, Fullerton, CA
1993-1994 | Adjunct Faculty, Computer Science Department, National University, Irvine, CA
1987-1992 Senior Principal Engineer,
Trang 16AIFP Trading Group, Portland, OR and B.W Randall Lumber Co., Huntington Beach, CA
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Kling, Rob and Lamb, Roberta (1996) Analyzing Alternate Visions of Electronic Publishing and Digital Libraries Scholarly Publishing: The Electronic Frontier, eds Gregory B Newby and Robin P Peek, Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press
Lamb, Roberta (1996) Interorganizational Relationships and Online Information
Resources Proceedings of the 29th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences - Vol 5 Digital Documents, p.82
Lamb, Roberta (1996) Informational Imperatives and Socially Mediated Relationships The Information Society, Vol 12, No 1
Lamb, Roberta and Kling, Rob (1995) Online Information Resource Mediation of
Interorganizational Relationships Proceedings of the First Americas Conference on Information Systems
Lamb, Roberta (1995) Using Online Information Resources: Reaching for the *.*’s
Digital Libraries ’95 Conference Proceedings, p.137
Lamb, Roberta (1995) Building A Better Fit: Revising Expectations About How
Organizations Use Online Information Resources National Online Meeting Proceedings- -1995, Learned Information, Inc., Medford, NJ, p 243
Lamb, Roberta (1996) A Review: Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change by W.E Bijker [Information Processing and Management, Vol 32., No 5
Kling, Rob and Lamb, Roberta (1997) Bits of Cities: How Utopian Visions Structure
Social Power in Physical Space and Cyberspace To appear in Urban Powers and
Utopias in the World, Emmanuel Eveno (ed.), Presses Universitaires du Mirail Lamb, Roberta (1994) Information Technology Support for Technology Transfer: A Usability Field Study," University of California, Irvine, Technical Report 94-38 Lamb, Roberta and Kling, Rob (1994) A Review: Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, BURROUGHS, AND REMINGTON RAND and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956 by James Cortada Contemporary Sociology, June, 1994, p 302
Trang 171992-1993 University of California President’s Fellowship Award
1991-1992 University of California Graduate Professional Opportunity Program Fellowship
Reviewer for COOCS’95, COOCS '96
Trang 18Interorganizational Relationships and Information Services:
How Technical and Institutional Environments Influence Data Gathering
Practices by
Roberta Ellen Lamb
Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Computer Science University of California, Irvine, 1997
Professor Rob Kling, Chair
As information providers, both public libraries and commercial online information services have lamented the “underutilization" of their collections and databases They expect that in an Information Age, their information resources will be widely deployed and actively used However, they find that, although overall demand for online
information is increasing, data gathering practices vary widely especially in the corporate sector and information resource use projections are often overestimated Why? What shapes organizational information resource use?
In this study of data gathering practices in twenty-six California law firms, biotech companies and real estate brokerages, I sought to answer that question by following a phased, cross-sectional qualitative research strategy Initial findings showed that data gathering practices are strongly related to the formation and maintenance of
Trang 19and where online services were used
I found that the organizations of my study employ a multiplicity of strategies for acquiring and using information resources However, patterns of use do not appear to vary infinitely a few are found repeatedly At the organizational level, pressures
identified with technical and institutional environments generate the context in which a firm develops data gathering practices An organization’s relationship with the major institutions of its industry largely determines how much and what kind of data it collects Firms that interact directly with large regulatory agencies generally collect more data than those that do not This relationship may also influence the overall data gathering practices of the firm, including the use online information resources
Trang 20Introduction and Motivation
This study is an inquiry into what shapes the use of online information resources How
do data gathering practices develop? And when do people go online? My study data
show that people within organizations develop data gathering practices that are shaped by the technical and institutional environments of their industries Particular sets of
practices predispose organizations to acquire and use online information resources This dissertation describes those incentives and practices
Online information resources are curated collections of indexed electronic databases with supporting distribution systems Online service vendors have traditionally provided fee- for-service modem access to mainframes containing these databases of business,
scientific, legal and financial information When first introduced in the early 1970’s, the services were entirely text-based Now, most online service providers supplement their mainframe offerings with graphically enhanced CD-ROM products They also provide additional access points via consumer utilities like CompuServe and America Online, and through the public information infrastructure of the World Wide Web
Why in the late 1990’s should we want to study the use of a technology developed in the
early 1970’s? What could we hope to learn about online use that will tell us something
Trang 21What makes the study of online interesting is that its value to individuals and
organizations has been repeatedly overestimated not just by commercial vendors, but often by purchasers themselves and not just by producers and consumers, but also by academic theorists However, some organizations use online extensively Why? What stimulates their use of online information resources, and why do they find them useful?
How do they differ from organizations which do not use online?
Throughout the balance of this chapter, I pull these questions together and further define
the nature of my study inquiry I examine concepts of information resource use and
identify the salient theoretical points that my study is designed to illuminate As I explain my research direction, I also identify the scope and organization of my study Finally, after briefly describing the qualitative research methodology that guides my research, I preview some predominant themes that emerge from the study data
1.1 Informational Imperatives and Online Resources
Consider, for a moment, this example of online information resource deployment The University of California expanded its TECH-TFR program for finding business partners for licensable university-developed technologies by providing online databases,
containing technology-relevant information, to member firms.’ The UC program administrators developed their databases to enhance the match-making service activities
Trang 22
the end of the first year, they could see that member firms had not used the databases much at all The program administrators were uncomfortable about this because they had allocated well over fifty percent of the project funding at that time, over $500,000 to database construction
The program administrators thought about online information access in much the same
way as do other proponents of information infrastructure expansion, such as those who
are pioneering electronic publishing efforts and distance learning programs They picture an organization as a place where individuals actively seek electronic information and eagerly integrate new resources and data gathering practices into their work routine
However, my study of this project (Lamb, 1994; Lamb, 1995) revealed that
organizational arrangements and work processes within the TECH-TFR member firms
encouraged people to use online information resources in ways that TECH-TFR program administrators did not expect The administrators did not realize the extent to which member firms used information mediators Consequently, the member firms evaluated the informational benefit of TECH-TFR differently than administrators had expected that is, member firms gave less importance to the data accessibility and more
importance to the match-making service accessibility The pilot project succeeded
because the member firms valued the potential of the technology transfer match-making services and continued to invest in that potential success did not result from online
access revenues
Trang 23confusion can be attributed to business literature hype that links corporate sector survival to acquiring leading edge information technologies (Marchand and Horton, 1986; Verity,
1994a; Verity, 1994b.) I have characterized these urgent promotions as informational
imperatives and have discussed them at length elsewhere (Lamb, 1996.) But national and international rhetoric encouraging the public and private funding of information
infrastructures also reflects this common misconception (White House, 1993;
Bangemann et al., 1994.) Both put forth compelling visions of an Information Age that identify certain incentives for using electronic information forms that involve the
efficiencies of online over print, given that a nearly universal data gathering
requirement already exists
Yet online service providers have had trouble making a profit (Eng, 1995), and some local government databases have not been heavily used (Dutton et al., 1993.) Librarians, too, have lamented the "underutilization" of their collections and databases They expect that in an Information Age, their information resources will be widely deployed and actively used However, they find that, although overall demand for online information is increasing, data gathering practices vary widely especially in the corporate sector And they look upon unused relevant data as an indication that something needs correcting (Wilson, 1995.)
Academic information theories explain some patterns of information resource use well, but they assume that organizations are independently driven to gather data Theorists have identified four common organizational activities that set data gathering practices in motion: rational decision making, environmental scanning, decision legitimation and basic research Fundamentally, functional information theorists, such as Stinchcombe
(1990), believe that people in organizations gather relevant data to reduce uncertainty to
Trang 24want to maintain an awareness of what others firms in its industry are doing Therefore, its executives and managers will continually scan the industry environment by gathering data about its competitors and relevant technologies This assumes that, if the data is gathered, the information it contains will be used However, Feldman and March (1981) have found that people in organizations frequently gather more data than they use in rational decision making or environmental scanning activities They theorize that an organization will gather information to symbolize its adherence to accepted decision making processes Even though an executive has already made a particular decision, she may have her staff collect data that supports or legitimates that decision Finally,
organizations will gather data as they perform basic research, or as they build products based on the work of industry and academic scientists (Garvey, 1979.)
With all of these inducements, how could relevant collections remain unused? Shouldn’t these incentives compel organizations to use information resources, including online?
Academic information theories explain some patterns of information resource use well,
Trang 25From the foregoing discussion, it should be clear that overestimates of online use could be based on commercial product hype, political rhetoric or academic theorizing It is, of course, the theorizing that I am concerned with here the apparent gap in predictive theory about the strategic deployment of information resources, including online | intend to bridge that gap by building information resource use theory from the data
presented in this research study
Taking the TECH-TFR example as a case in point, how could information resource use theory better explain that context of organizational data gathering practices? One way might be to adopt a perspective that incorporates the interorganizational relationships referenced within that context, as well as the mediators, into the overall theory of use
Some researchers have been able to strengthen theories of innovation by contextualizing
the innovation process through detailed historical analyses (Bijker, 1995) and through empirical research (Kling and Scacchi, 1982; Scacchi, 1981; von Hippel, 1988.) Their studies foreground the social contexts of innovation and add a level of complex
predictive capability I intend to follow their examples as I re-examine concepts of information resource use, including online, within a wider social context I will
foreground the environmental elements of organizational data gathering activities, paying
close attention to relationships with markets, suppliers and other industry organizations
that are part of the data gathering process or may in some way influence information
resource use
To direct my study toward my stated objectives, I concentrate my research efforts on
Trang 26they use other resources, such as print-based media or personal contacts, to mediate interorganizational relationships?
As I will explain further in the following chapters, this concentration on organizational individuals, mediation and interorganizational relationships allows me to connect the sociology of organizations and information science by relating them within industry environments, and to describe patterns of data gathering practices which determine information resource use, including online This study brings predictive capability to existing theory by adding an informational dimension to institutional perspectives
By concentrating my inquiry around the primary research question above, my study also
touches on the following subquestions:
How and when do interorganizational relationships shape data gathering activities?
What kind of data gathering practices develop? When are online information resources used?
1.3 Study Scope and Organization
My research approach is empirical, and because I seek to build upon or enhance existing
theory about information resource use, it is also qualitative I have chosen to conduct my
Trang 27on my study at TECH-TFR, I believe that people working within larger organizations are more likely to gather data than the solitary consumer or curious intellectual Their organizations can take action on information, whereas individuals often lack the resources to do so
Therefore, in addressing the main research question, I interview people in organizations about their use of information resources, including online, as they perform their daily activities, many of which involve other organizations My interviews are structured sets of open-ended questions, allowing for theoretical sampling as well as grounded analysis of the collected data (Strauss, 1987; Strauss and Corbin, 1990.) The theoretical
perspectives that guide my research are identified in Chapter 2 There I examine what
has been studied about organizational information resource use, and what remains
unexplained I pay particular attention to theorists who describe why interorganizational relationships involve data gathering I also identify relevant information systems studies that describe how and when organizations deploy information systems, as well as
information science studies that describe how individuals use online information
resources From this basis, I formulate my research question and direct it toward
answering unexplained organizational contexts of information resource use
In Chapter 3 and the Appendices, I describe how this study is designed to bridge the
theoretical gap identified in Chapter 2 I describe my phased, cross-sectional data
gathering approach, and provide my rationale for choosing three unique industries in
which to conduct my interviews: biotech/pharmaceuticals, law and real estate I also
Trang 28Chapters 4 through 6 present data that address my research question These data identify
the interorganizational relationships that organizational individuals mediate within twenty-six organizations They begin to demonstrate how technical and institutional
environments shape information gathering practices and affect the integration of online
information resources As I present the data in these chapters, I group the described practices into the themes that run throughout the data collected in all three industries
In Chapter 7, I analyze the data presented in the previous three chapters I identify the confluence of incentives to use information resources, including online, within the organizations of my study I observe that economic pressures in institutional
environments and documentation pressures in technical environments influence data gathering practices profoundly This analysis sets the foundation for adding an
informational dimension to institutional perspectives on organizational environments I
Trang 29I began this fieldwork by re-examining some of the data I had collected in my TECH- TFR study Even though the member firms did not use the TECH-TFR databases, informants frequently mentioned their use of other online resources, one of which was DIALOG DIALOG is one of the most successful commercial online services in the
world Its databases were originally an outgrowth of the government defense contractor, Lockheed DIALOG’s databases grew in number and size, and today there are over 600
scientific, business, news and financial databases to choose from The Knight-Ridder publications group purchased the DIALOG operation from Lockheed in the late 1980’s, and in early 1995S, renamed the organization Knight-Ridder Information, Inc (KRI)
| approached DIALOG executives in 1994, at the outset of this research, and asked if they would be willing to help me with an online account and access to proprietary
database usage statistics, as well as allowing me to talk with some of their managers and directors They graciously granted my request.” I spoke with them at length during
several visits to their Palo Alto and Mountain View, CA offices to gain an understanding of the online industry and the types of services provided KRI also provided me with customer lists that identified their top user organizations I began interviewing people at these organizations to try to discern how I might construct a study that would explain
their use of online services like DIALOG, and at the same time explain the non-use of
databases like TECH-TFR I interviewed informants at nine sites, including KRI Three of these later became part of the main research study (See the Appendices for an
overview of these interviews.)
Trang 30
practices to what I had heard from TECH-TER informants, and analyzed the database usage Statistics provided by KRI, I began to understand that, unlike some other organizations, biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms used online resources heavily Law firms, too, were high on the usage lists, and their informants confirmed that their
heavy online use was not unique to DIALOG, they also used online services like Lexis
and Westlaw intensively
This is, essentially, what Williams (1985, 1995) has been finding for years She has
compiled statistics on the online industry since 1975 Here are some of her findings:
[O]ver the time period from 1975 through 1994 the databases have grown by a factor of 28.2 (from 301 to 8776) The number of records contained in the databases has grown even more dramatically In 1975 the 301 databases contained about 52 million records The 8776 databases in 1994
contained some 6.3 billion records for a growth factor of 120.5
Looking at databases in terms of form of representation, 72% of databases
in 1994 were of the word-oriented type (bibliographic, full-text,
patent/trademark, directory, and dictionary), 18% were number-oriented, 5% were picture-oriented There are now more than 3,462 full-text databases
When looking at databases in terms of eight major subject classes:
science/technology/engineering, business, health/life sciences, social sciences, humanities, law, news/general, and multidisciplinary, we find the class with the largest number of databases is business (32%) which is down 1% from the prior year, even though the absolute number of
databases is up more than 100 Second is science/technology/engineering (19%), the third is law (12%), and the fourth is health/life sciences (9%), and the remaining four classes make up 28% (Williams, 1995: 1-2.)
Thanks to Williams’ statistics, I had the classic chicken-and-egg problem: do biotech and law firms report using more online resources than other organizations simply
Trang 31they collect more data and are more likely to use more of a number of information resources, including online databases?
Answer: the egg My data show that both biotech firms and law firms (and even some real estate firms) construct complex, data rich, information packages To construct them organizational individuals use a number of information resources, including online The format and content of these packages vary, but several predominant data gathering themes emerge around their construction and management
1.5 Predominant Themes
As I present my research data in Chapters 4 through 6, I group the examples within five thematic categories that emerge directly from my analysis of this data: institutional
proximity, profiling, hybrid specialists, perceived utility and role-based data exchange Because the data diverge widely across three industries and twenty-six organizations, I believe this presentation will help the reader follow my analysis and theory building effort in the chapters that follow it
Some of these themes relate directly to data gathering Profiling is one such theme Informants in all industries reported collecting data to characterize the people and organizations that their firm forms relationships with These vignettes describe, or profile, their subject in a specific and limited way Another theme of this nature is role- based data exchange: the distribution of published and unpublished materials by
Trang 32I bring these variations in data gathering activities and information resource use into sharper focus by examining data gathering related themes, the most important of which is institutional proximity The data presented in this category describe how closely an organization interacts with the major institutions of its industry, for example the large
regulatory agencies that control the biotech/pharmaceutical industry My data describe the nature of that relationship and the information packaging requirements that must be met to achieve regulatory compliance
The last two themes are also data gathering related They describe how people work with information resources how they sometimes become hybrid specialists by developing additional data gathering and manipulation skills and how their overall set of data gathering practices and information packaging requirements influences the perceived utility of information resources, including online, at an organizational level
By presenting data thematically, I necessarily leave out data that is not germane to my argument The type of data that I have routinely excluded is largely quantitative, such as the amount spent on online services per month or the number of journals an organization subscribes to Not every site would give me that information, so I did not have a good
basis for including it [ also omitted much of the personal data that informants provided
Hopefully, neither of these omissions will detract from the quality or readability of my presentation I was very careful to include conflicting data examples, and several of these are key to my resultant analysis Many good examples were left out simply because of space limitations Even so, there is a lot of material here for the reader to
Trang 34Organizing Perspectives on Interorganizational Relationships
In this chapter, I discuss key concepts for this study: interorganizational relationships, and the use of information in organizations I will review the previous work in information science, information systems and organizational analysis research that is relevant to these concepts This review is motivated primarily by questions raised by my TECH-TER study, and it focuses the inquiry of the current study As I examine this body of work I will characterize what these researchers say about information resource use and interorganizational relationships, and how the two may be related I identify what has been studied and explained in this area, and what is left unexplained From this review, I derive this study’s guiding research question, as well as three subquestions that will be addressed in the process of unraveling the answer to the main question These are the questions that my study design, as outlined in Chapter 3, will address
2.1 What are Interorganizational Relationships?
For the purposes of this study, the term “interorganizational relationship” may be defined as the result of interorganizational coordination, or
Trang 35decision rules that have been established to deal collectively with their task environment (Mulford and Rogers, 1982:12.)
Interorganizational relationships are strong when members of one organization take another organization’s activities into account (Hall et al., 1976.)
When theorists discuss types of interorganizational relationships, they often refer to interfirm subcontracting, as in the construction industry (Wren, 1967), interagency coordination networks, like municipal associations (Turk, 1970), market-based
competitor, customer and supplier relationships (Cyert and March, 1963) and mandated frameworks that enforce air pollution regulations, for example (Alexander, 1995.) Firms may form relationships directly or indirectly Many interorganizational relationships are mediated by professionals like attorneys or accountants These mediations often serve to standardize or legitimate exchanges between organizations (Blau, 1964.) Some theorists have suggested that professional personnel flows should also be considered as
interorganizational exchanges of information and influence (Baty et al., 1971.)
Based on the organizational interactions described in this literature, I have derived a set of types that cover the relationships mentioned by informants of this study (See Table 2.1.1.) The classification names are my own, and serve to characterize
interorganizational interactions for the balance of the discussion in this chapter and in the following chapters The table includes some illustrative examples of each type of
Trang 36Biotech companies frequently contract
ae
Qutsourcing
Subcontracting with Clinical Research Groups to
Partnering perform trials on new drugs and medical Administrating devices
Regulating Patent and trademark offices accept
Authorizing applications from biotech companies or Professionalizing their lawyers for exclusive use of an
invention or identifying trademark
Disseminating
Collaborating Realtors and brokers share property availability data through listing services
Adversarial Attorneys and prosecutors present case Competitive evidence to an impartial judge or arbiter
Customer/Client Brokers and realtors list properties on
Supplier behalf of sellers, and evaluate properties
for buyers
Certain types of interorganizational relationships are more common to particular industries Hall et al (1976) found that in the twelve city governments of his study, for example, 74% of interorganizational interactions were voluntary resource exchanges, or collegial types In a department store, interactions are more likely to be of the
buyer/seller or primary type The industries of this study are also characterized by particular kinds of interorganizational coordination
2.2 Why Interorganizational Relationships Involve Information Gathering
Some types of interorganizational relationships may involve more data gathering than
others In this section, I review the literature of organization theorists and researchers
Trang 37systems theorists provide a way of contextualizing the broad array of relationship types outlined in Section 2.1, but they do not articulate the role of information exchange and data gathering as clearly as do closed system theorists
2.2.1 Interorganizational Relationships, Risk and Mediation
Organizations may form relationships with other organizations for a number of reasons,
but often it is to achieve some short term benefit by reducing some particular uncertainty
As Schwartz (1970) points out, coalitions of organizations may actually remove certain risks He uses the European Economic Community (EEC) of the late 20th century as an example That coalition reduced the internal conflict among its members, and increased the coalition’s capacity to handle the remaining areas of conflict Schwartz says that this type or interorganizational relationship works best when the costs of coalition failure are high For the EEC, the costs of failure would have been the loss of local markets to U.S and Japanese competitors
A coalition can reduce uncertainty in key areas, but may introduce it other areas This may increase a coalition member’s need for new types of information According to Williamson (1965), information about member activities and intentions, as well as the larger decision environment, is needed to encourage collective action of this nature, otherwise coalition members will act independently
Information may help coalition members act collectively, or as economists show, it can
reduce uncertainty directly if it can be applied to financial investment decisions, for
Trang 38investment legitimation In the theory of capital investment the "three types of decision situations in capital allocation are certainty, risk, and uncertainty Risk exists in
’ [s]ituations in which a probability distribution of the return on a given project can be
estimated.“ In situations of uncertainty, however, there is insufficient knowledge to estimate a probability distribution Decision situations of uncertainty are considered too unstable for audit review, and public accountants generally stay clear of them"
(Montagna, 1990:247.)
If uncertainty can be reduced to an acceptable risk, through coalitions, assurances or
accumulations of knowledge, then investment of social or economic capital can become justifiable or legitimate in the eyes of auditors and public reviewers The reviewers may
be accountants, lawyers or underwriters These professionals routinely assess the risks of investments, mergers, and alliances In this role, they often mediate interorganizational relationships
By mediating interorganizational relationships, professionals do not shift risk away from
the organizations themselves, but they reduce uncertainties through assurances of
analytical competency (i.e accumulated knowledge.) Social exchange, unlike strictly impersonal economic exchange, involves trust (Blau, 1964.) As mutual trust builds over time through experience, this reduces anxiety about uncertainties Professional
mediators, members of the professions, are trusted by their clients and by society
"[P}rofessions are occupations with special power and prestige Society grants these
Trang 39have strong credentialling programs that attest to the competency of their members
Certification indicates who you can trust This is useful to organizations who wish to
retain an attorney, and it is also useful when hiring professionals into the firm
Attorneys, auditors and accountants may work inside an organization as employees or outside, as members of professional firms (Larson, 1977; Guy, 1985.) In our post- industrial society, forecasters predict that the generally expanding base of technical knowledge calls for more specialized knowledge and more professionals (Bell, 1973.) If more professionals are engaged to mediate interorganizational relationships, the need for information about professionals and their competencies would also be expected to increase
2.2.2 Information and Uncertainty
Organizational professionals gather and interpret data The information they glean from that data will reduce uncertainty about the tactical and strategic decisions of the firm to a calculable risk This is an organization’s primary data gathering rationality, according to Stinchcombe (1990) Executives, managers and other decision-makers will collect data about an area of uncertainty, such as internal data about manufacturing process
efficiencies They will also periodically gather news about their competitive
environment, such as competitors sales figures and stock prices This scanning activity helps an organization maintain an awareness of what others firms in its industry are doing, and may drive strategic direction more strongly than considerations of economic
efficiency Stinchcombe suggests that, for many firms, "the core organizational rationality is efficiency in news processing, not efficiency in maximization"
Trang 40Data gathered by organizational individuals may not be used directly by decision-makers
The information that data contains may instead be used to support a priori decisions For
example, even though an executive has already made a particular decision, she may have her staff collect data that supports or legitimates that decision Feldman and March
(1981) strongly question whether rational decision-making drives information gathering
Their important critique explains how social norms make information use highly symbolic
of a commitment to rational choice that gathering information signals personal and organizational competence They have found that people in organizations systematically
gather more data than they use in rational decision making, because the process of “decision making in organizations is more important than the outcomes it produces It is an arena for exercising social values, for displaying authority, and for exhibiting proper behavior and attitudes with respect to a central ideological construct of modern western civilization: the concept of intelligent choice” (Feldman and March, 1981:177.)
Organizational individuals also gather data as they perform basic research, or as they build products based on the work of industry and academic scientists (Garvey, 1979; Knorr-Cetina, 1981.) Scientists, engineers and managers use this data to understand advances in their industry, and they apply the relevant information they find to organizational activities that increase the core competencies of the firm
Table 2.2.2.1: Literature Review of Data Gathering Rationalities and Organizational Behaviors Rational Decision Making