Introduction to the special issue information technology in Korea: its role in firm success and economic development

Abstract

direct and indirect roles or positions of IT in Korea. It also reports the government’s efforts to promote the development of information and communications technologies. The second paper, ‘‘Effects of Strategic Alignment on IS Success: The Mediation Role of IS Investment in Korea,’’ empirically validates the role of IT investment in the improvement of business value in Korea. The study uses business executives’ views and perceptions in the empirical analysis. The third paper, ‘‘The Role of R&D and Corporate Governance in Korea: IT Firms versus Non-IT Firms,’’ compares different roles and effects of R and D investment between IT firms and non-IT firms in Korea. The study discovers that higher R and D investment results in higher firm valuation for IT firms. This leads to an indirect evidence of IT’s contribution at a firm level. The fourth paper, ‘‘Factors Affecting the Perceived Usability of the Mobile Web Portal Services: Comparing Simplicity with Consistency,’’ addresses the status of mobile data service in Korea. In particular, it reports Korean users’ usability perception of mobile Web services. Finally, the fifth paper, ‘‘Data Quality and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from the Korean Financial Industry,’’ addresses the role of IT delivering high quality data in the Korea’s financial sector. It provides a firm-level empirical evidence showing the effect of data quality on firm performance. All these papers directly or indirectly show the importance of IT in Korea’s economic development. Though part of IT’s contribution may be due to economic, cultural, and political aspects specific to Korea, the fact that IT serves as a vehicle to bring economic success in Korea should be a valuable lesson to many developing countries.