Abstract
Organizational theorists have long touted trust as a market asset for reducing transaction costs. In some cases managers have learned to depend on social relationships of firms with whom they are familiar rather than judging products on merit. The trouble arises when trust is established with a firm, and superior products from other firms are not considered. The problem is exacerbated with software, as the product itself is intangible and often difficult to judge or understand. Smaller COTS software firms with superior products have had a difficult time entering the U.S. Government market. Government managers have traditionally turned to well-known contractors with whom they have had decade-old ties, rather than seeking newer and better COTS solutions that are lesser known. This paper examines some of the barriers to trusting lesser-known software products and suggests solutions to overcome such barriers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bader, A., Mingins, C., Bennett, D., Ramakrishan, S.: Establishing Trust in COTS Components. In: Erdogmus, H., Weng, T. (eds.) International Conference on COTS Based Software Systems 2003. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)
Burt, R.: Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Harvard University Press (1995)
Carter, A., Perry, W.: Preventive Defense. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C (1999)
Cialdini, R.: Influence, Quill (1993)
Cialdini, R., DeNicholas, M.: Self-Presentation by Association. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57 (1989)
Dreazen, Y., Ip, G., Kulish, N.: Big Business: Why the Sudden Rise in the Urge to Merge and Form Oligopolies? Higher Payoffs, a Lowering of Antitrust Obstacles and Some Burst Bubbles. Wall Street Journal, 1, February 25 (2002)
Fellenzer, S.: Department of Defense Transformation: Organizational Barriers to the Commercial Product Use in Aerospace Projects, Stanford Dissertation (June 2002)
Granovetter, M.: Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91(3) (November 1985)
Kipnis, D.: Trust and Technology. In: Kramer, R., Tyler, T. (eds.) Trust in Organizations: Frontiers In Theory and Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks (1996)
Krackhardt, D., Kilduff, M.: Friendship Patterns and Culture: The Control of Organizational Diversity. American Anthropologist 92 (1990)
Kramer, R.: Cooperation and Organizational Identification. In: Murnighan, K. (ed.) Social Psychology in Organizations: Advances in Theory and Research. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1993)
Kramer, R.: When Paranoia Makes Sense. Harvard Business Review 80(7) (July 2002)
Kramer, R., Tyler, T.: Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research. Sage, California (1996)
March, J.: The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence. Blackwell, Mass (1999)
Merton, R.: Continuities in the Theory of Reference Group Behavior. In: Social Theory and Social Structure. Free Press, New York (1968)
Meyerson, D., Weick, K.E., Kramer, R.: Swift Trust and Temporary Groups. In: Kramer, R., Tyler, T. (eds.) Trust in Organizations: Frontiers In Theory and Research. Sage, California (1996)
Noonan, P.: When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan. Penguin, New York (2001)
Pfeffer, J., Sutton, R.: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action. Harvard Business School Press, Mass (2000)
Podolny, J.: A Status Based Model of Market Competition. American Journal of Sociology 98(4), 829–872 (1993)
Sako, M.: Prices, Quality and Trust. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1992)
Simon, H.: A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice. Quarterly Journal of Economics 69 (1955)
Staw, B., Sandelands, L., Dutton, J.: Threat-Rigidity Effects in Organizational Behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly 26 (December 1981)
Tversky, A., Kahneman, D.: Advances in Prospect Theory. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 5 (1992)
Weick, K., Roberts, K.: Collective Mind in Organizations: Heedful Interrelating on Flight Decks. Administrative Science Quarterly 38 (1993)
Williamson, O.: Markets and Hierarchies. Free Press (1975)
Williamson, O.: The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach. American Journal of Sociology 87 (1981)
Williamson, O.: Transaction Cost Economics and Organization Theory. In: Williamson, O. (ed.) Organization Theory: From Chester Barnard to the Present and Beyond, Oxford (1995)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Baron, S.J.F. (2005). Assets and Liabilities of Organizational Trust: COTS Software Adoption in Government Projects. In: Franch, X., Port, D. (eds) COTS-Based Software Systems. ICCBSS 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3412. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30587-3_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30587-3_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-24548-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30587-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)