Succeeding in the Virtual World: How Relationships Add Value on the Web

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore why organizations create Web links to other organizations by looking at the set of relationships among a group of disaster response organizations. We discuss how these organizations add value to their Web sites by using use Web links to reinforce their interorganizational relationships – solidifying exchange relationships and promoting normative ones. Our observations deal primarily with the set of organizations responding to the 1996 flooding in western Pennsylvania. For these organizations, we compare the relationships displayed on the Web to those reported between the organizations during the actual disaster response. This comparison allows us to draw conclusions about why the organizations created Web links and how they use these links to manage their interorganizational relationships and add value to their Web sites