Abstract
The article addresses a gap in research concerning the specific purpose of information technology in business relationships; how it impacts on the business and product development and relationship performance. In order to fill this gap, the purpose of this study is to investigate the prospective effects of information technology on business development and relationship performance in the business relationships of industrial firms.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on previous research from the industrial business-relationship field, 353 relationships between Swedish industrial firms and their customers are analysed with linear structural relations’ in LISREL.FindingsThe findings show that the effect of information technology on relationship performance is not direct, but mediated by business development measured in terms of business creation and product development.Research limitations/implicationsThe study’s results imply that information technology that is integrated in inter-firm operations has to be assigned the specific purpose (in this case the purpose of relationship innovativeness) to effectively influence relationship-specific performance. The results also indicate that more research is needed to provide additional insights about the relation between information technology and performance in business relationships.Originality/valueIn conclusion, this study fills a gap in research by highlighting that information technology studied with a business relationship approach is particularly important under certain conditions. As such, the study contributes to the research stream seeking to understand the role of IT in industrial marketing and how IT should be utilized for increasing relationship performance.