Complexity and the companies' informatization: Case EDI Tunisian companies

Abstract

Complexity is a recent phenomenon, characterized by incompleteness and unpredictability. With the globalization of business and technological changes, companies are not immune to the complexity. To control the inevitable growth of complexity, they are increasingly adopting more Information and Communication Technology ICT, such as EDI. It is then necessary to consider the impact of the use of EDI on the performance of complex transactions. A study was conducted among 32 Tunisian companies using EDI technology. Linear regression is used to test our model of dependence relation between exogenous variables (using EDI, product complexity, process complexity) and endogenous variable (delivery performance). Thus, we used the MRA (Moderated Regression Analysis), followed by the subgroup analysis to analyze the moderating effect of product complexity on the relationship between the use of EDI and delivery performance. The results show the positive effect of the use of EDI by personnel on delivery performance and the moderating effect of product complexity on the relationship between the number of partners using EDI and delivery performance.