TY - JOUR
T1 - Use and Affordances of ICTs in Interorganizational Collaboration
T2 - An Exploratory Study of ICTs in Nonprofit Partnerships
AU - Fu, Jiawei Sophia
AU - Cooper, Katherine R.
AU - Shumate, Michelle
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the Faculty Innovation Grant of the School of Communication of Northwestern University.
Funding Information:
The authors thank the anonymous reviewers, the editor Patricia Sias, and participants of the B.E.S.T session of the Organizational Communication division during the 2017 International Communication Association annual conference for their constructive feedback. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the Faculty Innovation Grant of the School of Communication of Northwestern University.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2019/5/1
Y1 - 2019/5/1
N2 - Interorganizational collaboration relies on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, previous ICT research often takes place within a single organization, lacking insight into how ICTs sustain interorganizational structures. This study examined both the product categories and functional uses of ICTs for interorganizational collaboration, drawing from surveys among a random sample of 181 human services nonprofit organizations in the United States. Results showed that email, teleconference, and shared repositories (e.g., Dropbox) were most popular product types. Content analysis revealed that ICTs were used for coordination, information sharing, relational communication, and client management and ICT utilities varied based on collaboration types. Analyses also indicated that collaboration type, as opposed to organizational attributes (e.g., organizational capacity, resources, size), was related to the frequency of ICT use in nonprofit collaboration. Theoretical contributions to the study of ICTs, interorganizational collaboration, and management communication are discussed.
AB - Interorganizational collaboration relies on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, previous ICT research often takes place within a single organization, lacking insight into how ICTs sustain interorganizational structures. This study examined both the product categories and functional uses of ICTs for interorganizational collaboration, drawing from surveys among a random sample of 181 human services nonprofit organizations in the United States. Results showed that email, teleconference, and shared repositories (e.g., Dropbox) were most popular product types. Content analysis revealed that ICTs were used for coordination, information sharing, relational communication, and client management and ICT utilities varied based on collaboration types. Analyses also indicated that collaboration type, as opposed to organizational attributes (e.g., organizational capacity, resources, size), was related to the frequency of ICT use in nonprofit collaboration. Theoretical contributions to the study of ICTs, interorganizational collaboration, and management communication are discussed.
KW - ICTs
KW - affordances
KW - interorganizational collaboration
KW - interorganizational communication
KW - management communication
KW - nonprofit organization
KW - technology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060593834&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85060593834&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0893318918824041
DO - 10.1177/0893318918824041
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060593834
SN - 0893-3189
VL - 33
SP - 219
EP - 237
JO - Management Communication Quarterly
JF - Management Communication Quarterly
IS - 2
ER -