A Study on Adoption of Port Community Systems According to Organization Size Yavuz Keceli * , Hyung Rim Choi * , Yoon Sook Cha * , Y. Volkan Aydogdu ** * Department of Management Information Systems, Dong-A University, South Korea ** Department of Maritime Traffic Information, Korean Maritime University, South Korea ykeceli@naver.com, {hrchoi, yscha}@dau.ac.kr, yusufvolkan18@yahoo.com Abstract Port community systems (PCS), which are networks which link up the port with all the companies that use it, play a crucial role for the competitive power of the port. Although these systems have promising benefits for the users, a lot of companies are reluctant to adopt them. Previous studies state severe resistance of the port users which causes failure of the projects or delays and additional costs. Thus this research aims to develop a model for determining the factors affecting PCS and to find out the factors affecting the user acceptance of port community systems through a questionnaire survey targeting land and sea carrier companies located in Busan Port region. Also the differences between large and small companies were seized by grouping analysis. According to the results, factors related to PCS adopter appeared to be the most important factors and most of the users considered perceive PCS as a tool for port and customs-related document submission, rather than a means for added value creation. On the basis of results several suggestions were made for better PCS adoption. 1. Introduction In the world of globalization, due to various changes in the international port logistics environment, such as increasing amount of international trade and container throughput, advent of ultra-large container vessels, changing customer demands, developments in information technology and new handling equipments, concerns about security and environmental issues, the advanced ports around the world are in a severe competition to ensure their container throughput and strategic position as “hub” ports. In order to confront this competitive pressure, ports are investing in infrastructure and improving their operation systems. Among these systems, port community systems, which are “computer networks which link up the port with all the companies that use it, including hauliers, rail companies, shipping lines, feeder ports, shippers and customs officers” [1] are being implemented in order to reduce paperwork and facilitate the information flow related for port operations and customs declarations. All these factors are necessary for the ports to keep competitive advantage. On the other hand research related to port community system development and adoption is relatively insufficient when compared to terminal operating systems and handling equipments. However port community systems require the participation of various organizations with different characteristics, often challenge them to integrate their systems or change their business processes. Previous studies state severe resistance of the port users which causes failure of the projects [2] or delays and additional costs [3]. Thus there is necessity for determining factors affecting technology acceptance of port community systems. Thus, the purpose of this study is to derive the factors affecting the adoption of port community systems by the port users. 2. Theoretical Background 2.1. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Port community systems are generally based on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology. According to UN/EDIFACT, EDI is “electronic transfer from computer to computer of commercial or administrative transactions using an agreed standard to structure the transaction or message data” [4]. Nowadays, the information within an organization is mainly processed by computers, but the data transfers between organizations are mainly based on papers, forms or printouts. EDI technology enables data transfer between organizations’ databases without printing out. The data is converted through data converter, transferred via e-mail, internet or a dedicated line and decoded on the receiver side. The key to EDI is using the same data format on both sides of the transfer [5]. Using EDI can lead important benefits to an organization, such as faster exchange of data without Third 2008 International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology 978-0-7695-3407-7/08 $25.00 © 2008 IEEE DOI 10.1109/ICCIT.2008.396 485 Third 2008 International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology 978-0-7695-3407-7/08 $25.00 © 2008 IEEE DOI 10.1109/ICCIT.2008.396 493 Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on November 20, 2008 at 04:02 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.