Transportation Collaboration: Partner Selection Criteria and Inter-Organizational System (IOS) Design Issues for Supporting Trust

The empty truck problem is a costly logistics issue that many companies have faced. Collaboration among competitors providing logistical solutions is very difficult and might not take place at all without support and intervention by the government. This study addresses the horizontal transportation collaboration among competitors that has been initiated by a government agency in Thailand. A survey was carried out of two groups comprising 31 “would be” collaborators – shippers and carriers – using a convenient sampling scheme. The study was designed to explore partner selection criteria during the formation stage and to explore the related design factors of an inter-organizational system (IOS) that supports trust among these collaborators. The result includes a comparison of the pre- and post-exposures to the IOS paper-based prototype that has incorporated some theoretically desirable features of collaboration. The results show positive relationships between direct prior alliance experience and some elements of trust and also between commitment and trusting intention in potential partners.

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