Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to explore how cluster organizations (COs) take advantage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The paper addresses the research question: “How do cluster organizations take advantage of ICT in fulfilling their main roles?”. The research was carried out in the first half of 2016 in four purposefully selected cluster organizations. The main research strategy involved Grounded Theory; the basic method of data collection was an in-depth individual interview. The research sample comprised 30 cluster entities – members of four cluster organizations representing metal and ICT industry. The research has shown that Information and Communication Technologies are an important tool in the development of cooperation in cluster organizations. Nevertheless, it has been observed that ICT play a slightly different role at each level of a CO’s development. The research was based on an original theoretical concept referring to the trajectory of the development of cooperative relationships in cluster organizations. Four levels have been distinguished in the development of COs. At each level, cluster organizations play one of three identified roles: a Direct resource supplier (providing access to resources), a Broker (facilitating a resource exchanges) and an Integrator (integrating in different dimensions). The specific nature of each level of cooperation determines the type of information technology used. The research study contributes to the literature which refers to the question of face-to-face contacts established in geographical proximity versus the ones set up by using Information and Communication Technologies in COs. It was noticed that, even though information technologies play a significant role in the functioning of cluster organizations, they cannot replace face-to-face contacts. They can only be their important complement at every level of CO development. There are also some limitations connected with the qualitative approach, which does not allow the authors to generalize the findings. The first limitation is the small research sample. The second limitation is the subjectivity characterizing qualitative research, mainly due to the applied techniques of data collection and analysis.

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