THE EVOLUTION OF VERTICAL IS STANDARDS: ELECTRONIC INTERCHANGE STANDARDSIN THE US HOME MORTGAGE INDUSTRY

M. Lynne Markus, Charles W Steinfield, and Rolf T Wigand

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2003)

In contrast to horizontal IT standards, which concern the characteristics of IT products and apply to users in many industries, vertical IS standards focus on data structures and definitions, document formats, and business processes and address business problems unique to particular industries. This paper contributes to the small but important literature on vertical IS standards by presenting the case study of the evolution of electronic interchange standards, with a particular focus on Internet-era standards, in the US home mortgage industry. This industry is particularly interesting for a study of vertical IS standards because of the relatively low level of technology adoption for interorganizational interchange until very recent years, which makes the standardssetting process highly accessible for study.