Effects of ICT-enabled social capital on inter-organizational relationships and performance: empirical evidence from an emerging economy

ABSTRACT

Social capital is an influential concept in understanding why and how some firms do better in inter-organizational relationships (IORs). It is an important factor in developing relationships of trust, making the basis for better collaboration among individuals, groups, and organizations. This paper presents findings from an empirical study of the effect of multiple dimensions of Social Capital and the moderating role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on inter-bank strategic collaboration in Sri Lanka, a developing context. The theoretical model is validated using partial least squares-based structural equation modeling based on survey and secondary data. The findings suggest that there is a strong positive combined effect of social capital and ICT toward inter-firm strategic alliances. The results contribute to both social capital theory and theories of ICT for development. It will also contribute to a more holistic perspective that incorporates social, technical, and organizational aspects for building effective strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Social capital
• ICT
• Inter-organizational relationships (IOR)
• Developing economy
• Banking
• Sri Lanka
• Alliances

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Dasuni Nawinna is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Computing, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology of Malabe where she is working in the e-Society research group. She is a member of Association for Information Systems (AIS) Special Interest Group (SIG) on ICTs & Global Development (GlobDev). Her research explores how technology shapes socio-cultural, economic, and institutional development, with particular interests in social capital. Her other research interests include social network analysis, ICT supported education, inter-organizational systems, business process management, knowledge management, and research methods.

Associate Professor John R. Venable is Discipline Lead for Business Information Systems (BIS) and Co-Director of the Curtin Business School Not-for-Profit Research Initiative at Curtin University. He is a former Head of School and Director of Research in the School of Information Systems at Curtin. He has held academic positions in Information Systems (IS) and Computer Science in the USA, Denmark, New Zealand, and Australia. He has published extensively in international conferences and journals including The European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, Information & Management, The Information Systems Journal, Information Technology & People, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, The Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, The Journal of Community Informatics, Wirtschaftsinformatik, and The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods. He serves in editorial roles on five international journals and regularly serves as chair, track chair, and program committee member of international research conferences. Dr Venable is an internationally recognized expert in Design Science Research (DSR). His other research interests include IS development and planning methods and practice; organizational, IS, and data modeling; ontologies; problem-solving methods; qualitative and critical research; research methods; organizational culture and change management; knowledge management and organizational learning; group support systems and collaborative work; digital library systems; IT support for teaching and learning; the application and management of IS and IT to support not-for-profit organizations; corporate social responsibility; and the application of IS and IT for human benefit.