This research studies the performance of business-to-business (B2B) sellers in e-marketplaces (EMs) from both resource-based and transaction cost perspectives. Organisational resources and capabilities, including online marketing, EM management, online social networking, product/service quality, learning, and exclusive brokerage rights, are proposed to impact on B2B seller performance positively. Two transaction cost factors, asset specificity and complexity of product description, are proposed to affect B2B seller performance negatively. Hypotheses are tested empirically, based on a PLS (partial least squares) analysis of data gathered from 91 B2B online sellers. Results indicate that general capabilities such as learning and social networking capability explain online seller performance better than specific functional capabilities, and asset specificity and complexity of product description can be sources of competitive advantage for online sellers, thus positively impacting on B2B seller performance.
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