The influence of EDI adoption over its perceived benefits

The aim of this paper is to analyse the benefits to be gained from the use and adoption of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), from the point of view of administration as well as of improvement in information and relationships with business partners. This study concentrates not on the evaluation of benefits to be had from EDI but on the changes in perception of these benefits arising from this tool's use. Besides, we try to explain why EDI is not very widespread. Our hypothesis is that this must be due to the fact that these benefits are hard to perceive and that maybe, once the technology has been adopted, its users become aware of the benefits and change their opinion. We shall concentrate on the retail sector in Spain. (C) 2002 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.