PARTNER CONGRUENCE IN ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI)-ENABLED RELATIONSHIPS.

Business partnerships are a prerequisite for an effective supply chain. EDI-enabled business partnerships are crucial in linking suppliers and customers. This paper develops congruence factors for customer-supplier EDI partnerships. Data were collected from sixty-four customer-supplier dyads of firms using a questionnaire instrument. By factor analyzing thirty-one items, six congruence factors were identified: top-level strategic commitment, trading partner flexibility, joint partnering for EDI, readiness for high-level EDI implementation, EDI infrastructure, and partner communication. Additional analysis revealed that customer firms placed significantly more emphasis on congruence factors than supplier firms except for “joint partnering for EDI.” These findings have implications for assessing business partnerships in the networked economy.

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