Does the information timeliness and trust promote interorganizational cooperation?

Abstract

The timeliness of management information in interorganizational relationship, which encompasses the speed of processing and providing management information and the frequency (periodicity) of its delivery to the partner companies can potentially determine the achievements of the established relationship. Thus, this study analyses the influence of timeliness of management information and trust in the partner in interorganizational cooperation. Furthermore, it verifies whether sharing information mediates the relationship of trust in the partner with interorganizational cooperation. A survey was conducted with 203 managers of companies associated with two Brazilian technology parks, and the data was analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results show that the timeliness of management information influences the interorganizational relationship established in technology parks. Furthermore, that the information sharing mediates the relationship of trust in other dimensions of interorganizational cooperation, which indicates that information sharing enables involvement of partners in other cooperation behaviors. It is concluded that the speed and frequency of management information act in different but complementary ways in promoting trust and interorganizational cooperation. This finding may be important in defining and reviewing the characteristics to be considered in designing the management control systems for interorganizational relationships.