Abstract

Based on the context of e-commerce towns’ boost in rural parts of developing countries, this study examines the role of e-commerce association in the organizing and management of social relations to achieve sustainability and address existing social problems. Referring to the existing literature on resource dependence theory and social network theory, the present study aims to investigate the tensions arising from these two theories about relation management by exploring the contingent conditions for the two streams of research. This research-in-progress report presents a preliminary framework, which is based on the theories, initial primary data collection as well as secondary data. This framework presents three phases of the development of the e-commerce towns. In each stage, specific network structure, social relations and corresponding sustainable initiatives are discussed. The case study approach is adopted in this explorative research. Additional data collection and analysis will be conducted in next stage and the findings will be further enhanced. Also, expected theoretical and managerial implications will be discussed in the end of this paper.

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