Research Summary
Research Summary
When Does IT Foster Markets, When Does it Foster Hierarchies?
Description
The 'Electronic Markets Hypothesis' is, at present, essentially taken for granted. It holds that greater use of IT leads to greater use of market mechanisms for coordinating activity, basically because of IT's ability to reduce the costs of coordination.
The adoption of some kinds of IT, however, must be managed; for these technologies, usage does not follow spontaneously from the introduction of the technology. Hierarchies have effective mechanisms for selective managerial intervention, compared to markets. As a result, I believe that in some contexts the Electronic Markets Hypothesis will not hold. I am developing, justifying, and providing empirical support for an 'Electronic Hierarchies Hypothesis,' and articulating the circumstances where it will hold.