The influence of industry culture on an inter-organisational information system adoption process

Organisational and national cultures have been extensively studied in information systems. In this paper, we introduce and argue that the concept of industry culture has a strong influence in the adoption of an inter-organisational information system (IOIS). Data was collected from eight organisations in three industries which showed that industry culture rather than organisational culture has a greater influence in the adoption of an IOIS. In all cases, The practice component of the industry culture was examined. In the retail sector of a Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry, organisations prepared to change their culture to achieve shared IOIS adoption benefits such as sharing data across organisations. Industry culture was however shown to be an inhibitor to IOIS adoption in the foodservice industry. In the healthcare industry, customers (hospitals) were prepared to change their practices to adopt an IOIS whilst some suppliers were reluctant to change because they would lose their benefits and power they once held.