Joint collaborative planning as a governance mechanism to strengthen the chain of IT value co-creation

Drawing on the relational view of the firm, this paper examines the chain of IT-based co-creation of value and how joint collaborative planning between partners can strengthen this chain. Using data from 51 suppliers in the telecommunication equipment industry, our analysis demonstrates that the greater the partner-specific IT investments made by the firm, the greater its use of supply chain collaborative systems (SCCSs) with those partners and the greater the firm uses SCCSs with partners, the greater its benefits, through the generation of relational rents. Further investigation also shows that partner-specific IT investments is not a predictor of firm benefits and hence confirms the hypothesized chain of IT-based co-creation where IT investments encourage IT use, which in turn creates business value. Finally, our findings also show that joint collaborative planning between partners is an important governance mechanism, anchored on control and trust, that can strengthen the relationship between SCCSs use and firm benefits by impacting the other sources of relational rents tied to the use of SCCSs. This contribution should give academics and practitioners alike a better understanding of how both SCCSs and joint collaborative planning can foster the co-creation of value.