The Impact of IT Structure and Firm Interdependency on Relational Rents in Innovation Collaboration Networks

This paper examines inter-organizational innovation collaboration networks (ICNs) using a relational view of the firm perspective. This study suggests that information technology (IT) structure and firm interdependencies can be significant predictors of relational rent generation for innovation collaboration networks. Furthermore, the authors argue that the alignment of these structural properties – IT structure and firm interdependency - will influence firm performance in terms of relational rents obtained by the innovation collaboration network. The relevant literature will be discussed and hypotheses proposed to empirically examine the relationship between IT structure and firm interdependencies on relational rent generation. Potential theoretical contributions to the relational view of the firm are identified and discussed. Limitations of the proposed study and discussion of the future research opportunities will also be provided