An empirical investigation of electronic data interchange (EDI) utilization in the Saudi's private organization

Cost, global competitive pressures and continuous innovations are forcing many organizations to rethink the manner in which they do business and to reengineer themselves in order to conduct business with low overhead costs. Information Technology (IT) introduced what today we refer to as the information age or, more aptly, the telecommunication area. Modern IT offers the possibility of effective coordination between suppliers and customers through electronic linkage which speeds up the business process. This type of technology is known as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).;The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of EDI by Saudi organizations. The study proposes a relationship between the use of EDI and organizational, IT and pressure variables. The study is based on data collected through a questionnaire distributed to 337 organizations in Saudi Arabia. 125 questionnaires were received giving the high rate of return of 37%. An analysis of data revealed that nearly one-third of the responses, twenty six, (27%) were using EDI and ninety two (73%) were not using EDI.;The study also revealed that there were barriers to EDI adoption in Saudi Arabia. These barriers included the lack of professional MIS staff and inadequate training programs together with poor levels of communication and an inadequate awareness about EDI. Beside these factors, there were additional factors that hinder IT utilization. These include shortages of skilled IT staff, a lack of knowledge about computers, a lack of technical expertise by the IT staff on both sides, the organizations "user" and the providers "suppliers", together with a lack of technical support by IT suppliers and poor IT education level. Moreover, the results also indicated that there was a relation between the use of EDI and pressure from customers and suppliers. However, no relationship was found between the use of EDI and the organizational and IT related variables.