Combining Quantitative Methods and Grounded Theory for Researching E-Reverse Auctions

Even though many authors claim that e-reverse auctions (e-RAs) are detrimental to the effective building and management of buyer-supplier relationships (Emiliani and Stec 2004), not much is known about how specific characteristics of e-RAs may contribute to such negative effects on buyer-seller relations (Jap 2003). This study sets out not only to provide a first investigation of context, participants' information behaviour, and buyer-supplier relationships in e-RAs, but also to illustrate new methods for theory building in the e-RA and information systems domain. Following a grounded-theory approach, a comprehensive online questionnaire was developed (Lösch and Lambert 2006) based on the critical review of the literature and the results of a preceding explanatory study (Lösch 2005). Usable responses were received from 89 buyers and 54 suppliers, including both users and non-users of e-RAs. The data were analyzed using a novel approach to quantitative analysis based on suggestions by Glaser (1994). The results indicate that e-RAs have fewer negative effects on buyer-supplier relationships than currently assumed. They also show how context and the participants' information behaviour correlate with buyer-supplier relationships, thus providing first suggestions for a better management of e-RAs. The paper also thus provides a first illustration of how quantitative methodology might be usefully applied to information systems research, an area which is dominated by the use of qualitative methodology.