ICT Impact on Firms: The Mediating Effect of Interorganizational Cooperation for Corporate Travel Agencies

Abstract: The pandemic caused by covid-19 has paralyzed practically the entire tourism sector, so new mechanisms are required to reactivate it. This article analyzes inter-organizational cooperation as a mechanism through which information and communication technologies (ICT) influence firm performance of agencies in this sector. The data necessary for the empirical study was obtained through a questionnaire reported by managers/directors of 170 TMC (Travel Management Company) and DMC (Destination Management Company) agencies related to the tourism business and events in Brazil. The empirical results show that the ICT use for the management of events and businesses benefits cooperation between agencies, as well as obtaining better firm performance. Likewise, the mediation role of cooperation between the ICT use and the performance of the TMC and DMC agencies is confirmed. In other words, agencies of event management and business tourism, making use of new technologies, should reorient their behavior and establish different forms of cooperation among them (product or process development, benchmarking, exchange of experiences, ...) in order to mitigate the effects of the pandemic crisis and improve firm performance.

Key words: cooperation, ICT, performance, tourism, TMC/DMC

JEL codes: M10, M15