The Political Economy of Information Exchange : Politics and Property Rights in the Development and Use of Interorganizational Information Systems

Interorganizational information systems are information systems that cross organizational boundaries. Information managers and system developers often assume that the more integrated these information systems are, the more successful the system will be. Such an assumption is indeed intuitively appealing, and, from a technological standpoint, readily understandable. In practice, development and use of integrated information systems that cross organizational boundaries often result in confusing power struggles, politicking and sometimes manifest sabotage. Based on economic and political organization theory, this article concludes that data ownership and incentives, rather than integration, are of vital importance for the success of interorganizational information systems.