Transaction visibility and information technology: When does changing transaction visibility make sense and when is it more likely to occur

Visible transactions are those that are open to the customer: the customer can see the detailed logic of the transaction and may manipulate specific variables to control the transaction process. Some transactions are invisible: customers have little ability to control the transaction flow and may even be insulated from seeing the transaction. These invisible transactions will be taken care of only by suppliers, and be regarded as an aspect of suppliers' performances. Firms may be able to create additional customer values by changing the visibility characteristic of business transactions. In other words, both making visible and invisible can provide distinctive values to the customers.;This dissertation pursues finding out the contingencies of successful transaction visibility change by answering to the following couple of questions. The first one is "when does increasing (or decreasing) transaction visibility make sense to customers?" This research question relates to the individual transaction-level motivations that can convince customers to accept visibility change in current transactions. The second question is "when is increasing (or decreasing) transaction visibility more likely to occur?" This question is based on the assumption that there must be circumstance where economic rationale can be implemented successfully.;By conducting an archival case study, this dissertation finds out that transaction visibility change should fit to the need and capabilities of customers. Increasing transaction visibility makes sense when customers need a certain supplier's performance and have a confidence in the capabilities of executing the performance. By the same token, decreasing transaction visibility makes sense when customers have substantial troubles in conducting their current transaction actions or when customers don't feel it necessary to conduct them separately because they can be derived from other actions. However, the influence of relational factors could not be identified in this study due to lack of data.