Although the adoption of inter-organizational systems (IOS) has been studied extensively in the existing literature, relatively little research attention has been paid to how small firms in supply chains are influenced by their larger partners in making their system sourcing decisions. In this study, we examine how small suppliers may choose their system sourcing approaches to better serve and collaborate with their large customers in supply chains. Our empirical findings suggest that information processing requirements and collaboration needs drive small suppliers to adopt more commercial off-the-shelf software package (i.e., external sourcing) to build their IOSs. Moreover, we find that small suppliers take such external sourcing as a way to achieve system effectiveness and enhance their information processing capabilities. The findings of this study generate important theoretical and managerial implications for IOS adoption and organizational information processing.

中文翻译：

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供应链中的系统采购和信息处理能力：对小型供应商的研究

尽管在现有文献中对组织间系统（IOS）的采用进行了广泛的研究，但对供应链中的小公司如何在其系统采购决策中受到较大合作伙伴的影响的研究关注却很少。在本研究中，我们研究了小型供应商如何选择其系统采购方法，以更好地为供应链中的大型客户提供服务并与之合作。我们的经验发现表明，信息处理要求和协作需求促使小型供应商采用更多商业现货供应的软件包（即外部采购）来构建其IOS。此外，我们发现小型供应商将这种外部采购作为实现系统有效性和增强其信息处理能力的一种方式。