How and why technology based service organizations act together : emerging organization fields in the Australian Internet Service Provider (ISP) industry

This paper uses institutional theory of Organization Field to analyse the recent collaborative efforts of the Australian Internet industry stakeholders to address customer service (CS) and complaints handling (CH) concerns. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and interviewed eleven senior executives in key positions in the Internet industry. Major findings are: 1) Vigorous collaboration amongst the institutional actors has led to emergence of Organization Fields 2) The actors of the Emerging Fields actively influence the development/review of the CS/CH practices and its subsequent implementation in ISPs 3) there is potential for Emerging Fields to mature over time to inform future CS/CH practices and 4) there are implications for CS/CH performance of the ISPs and Internet consumer protection.