Cc. Lee et V. Grover, Exploring mediation between environmental and structural attributes: The penetration of communication technologies in manufacturing organizations, J MANAG I S, 16(3), 1999, pp. 187-217
The relationship between organizational structures and information technolo
gy (IT) has been the subject of much discussion in IS research. While studi
es have not yielded conclusive results, the importance of examining the rel
ationship between structure and technology is increasing in an environment
where organizations are using contemporary IT to redesign themselves in ord
er to compete more effectively. This paper presents a study that examines t
he relationship between the use of an important class of IT communications
technologies, and organizational structural attributes within a brand conti
ngency context. Hypotheses are proposed, based on theory from the informati
on-processing paradigm examining the mediating role of communications techn
ologies (CT) in the relationship between environmental characteristics and
organizational structural characteristics. Data from 153 manufacturing firm
s are collected and analyzed. The results show that CT seems to play a dire
ct role in reinforcing structures that emerge from environmental dictates.
The expanded set of variables considered in this study and the results prov
ide potentially strong implications for future work in this important area.