New technologies and organisational change : the case of electronic traceability systems in the french agro-food industry
Résumé
This paper examines the relationship between technology adoption and business organizations. More precisely the objective is to show the respective role of the organization structural forms and forms of organizational change, explaining the adoption of Electronic Traceability Systems (ETS). Traceability systems based on information and communication technologies (ICT) allow firms to collect, track, stock and transfer information on a range of product attributes. We use original data from the "Organizational Changes and Computerization" survey from 2006 (COI-TIC), carried out by the French National Institute of Statistics (INSEE) and coordinated by the Center for Employment Studies (CEE). From an empirical point of view, we apply a Probit model in order to evidence the organizational structure and changes of firms given their ETS adoption choices. Results show a positive relationship between both the formalization of managerial practices on the one hand, and the contractualization of external activities on the other, with the adoption of ETS.