Dynamic Information Technology Research Articles

Impact of IT governance mechanisms on IT-enabled dynamic capabilities to achieve firm performance: role of moderators

PurposeAlthough information technology (IT) governance and IT capability have been extensively examined, the impact of IT governance mechanisms on IT-enabled dynamic capability (ITDC) with moderators has received less attention. This study investigates how the impact of IT governance mechanisms on firm performance is achieved through an ITDC through the moderating role of IT governance decentralization and a turbulent environment.Design/methodology/approachThis study extends from the traditional view of IT capabilities and integrates dynamic capability theory to propose that IT governance is vital for the ITDC. Path analysis, hierarchical regression analysis and moderation analysis were performed using partial least squares (Smart PLS 3.0) as the data analysis methods. This study empirically tests the proposed mediated moderation model by using data collected from 254 firms in China to test the hypotheses.FindingsSignificant and impactful relationships are found in the model that includes turbulent environment moderating effects. Contrary to expectations, IT governance decentralization is also significant but not very strong.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s findings have implications for investigating IT governance, IT-enabled capabilities and moderators. Accordingly, this study has implications for board and executive management to capitalize on dynamic IT capability, to keep pace with the challenges and turbulent conditions associated with business needs and for the productivity paradox in the context of Chinese firms.Originality/valueThis country-specific research study theoretically contributes to the IT governance, dynamic capabilities and turbulent environment in the information systems literature and proposes many practical guides to the board and executive management of companies in the Chinese context.

Risk-Management Framework and Information-Security Systems for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Meta-Analysis Approach

Information-technology (IT) security standards are regularly updated in a rapidly changing technological world to maintain pace with advanced technologies. This study was motivated by the realization that established IT risk-management frameworks might provide an adequate defence for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those actively adopting new technologies. We reviewed that a dynamic IT risk-management framework, updated to reflect emerging technological changes, would offer improved security and privacy for SMEs. To evaluate this, we conducted a systematic literature review spanning 2016 to 2021, focusing on IT risk-management research in various application areas. This study revealed that, while established frameworks like NIST have their benefits, they need to be better suited to the unique needs of SMEs due to their high degree of abstractness, vague guidelines, and lack of adaptability to technological advancements. The findings suggest a pressing need to evolve IT risk-management frameworks, particularly by incorporating advanced methods such as system dynamics, machine learning, and technoeconomic and sociotechnological models. These innovative approaches provide a more dynamic, responsive, and holistic approach to risk management, thereby significantly improving the IT security of SMEs. The study’s implications underscore the urgency of developing flexible, dynamic, and technology-informed IT risk-management strategies, offering novel insights into a more practical approach to IT risk management.

How health care delivery organizations can exploit eHealth innovations: An integrated absorptive capacity and IT governance explanation

Because health care delivery organizations (HDOs) increasingly rely on information technology (IT) in their delivery of health care services, recognition of how to exploit innovative electronic health (eHealth) technologies is crucial. We integrated absorptive capacity and governance perspectives to theorize that an HDO’s eHealth absorptive capacity is a dynamic IT capability to exploit eHealth innovations through the appropriate use of IT governance mechanisms. Drawing on absorptive capacity theory, we conceptualized an HDO’s eHealth potential absorptive capacity as consisting of eHealth entrepreneurial alertness and assimilation. We draw on the theoretical perspectives of IT governance to identify two modes of eHealth governance—relational and contractual—and theorize how each of them affected the relationship between eHealth potential absorptive capacity and eHealth exploitation. Valid empirical data were gathered from 182 senior executive representatives in 111 HDOs; we discovered that (1) eHealth potential absorptive capacity can be formatively conceptualized as a second-order construct consisting of eHealth entrepreneurial alertness and eHealth assimilation, (2) eHealth potential absorptive capacity affects eHealth exploitation, and (3) relational governance significantly moderates the influence of eHealth potential absorptive capacity on eHealth exploitation. We discussed the implications of our work for how HDOs can govern eHealth initiatives to expand absorptive capacity for eHealth innovations and effectively exploit them.

Dynamic information technology capability: Concept definition and framework development

In a digital world, information technology (IT) units routinely update their capabilities to cope with changing business requirements and frequent technology releases. Extending the dynamic capabilities literature, this article presents the concept of dynamic IT capability, a multidimensional first-order dynamic capability that enables IT units to assist firms in appropriating business value from IT resources by influencing a set of IT-related ordinary capabilities. Scholars currently lack a dynamic capabilities framework that explains, from an IT unit’s perspective, how IT resources can be acquired, deployed, integrated, and reconfigured to fulfill business objectives. To bridge this research gap, we develop a high-level framework that highlights three constituent components of dynamic IT capability: dynamic digital platform capability, dynamic IT management capability, and dynamic IT knowledge management capability. Through an extensive literature review, we identify and summarize the set of ordinary capabilities that each dynamic IT capability component creates and reconfigures. We then offer guidance on future instrument development. To encourage further exploration of this critical construct, we close by highlighting future avenues for dynamic IT capability research.

Towards a calculative model of supply chain enabling IT implementation

Purpose Research provides inconsistent findings regarding motivations for the implementation of information technology (IT) in the supply chain. Two main theoretical perspectives emerge from the literature. The first predicts a logical progressive implementation of technology over time. The second views situational factors as moderating progressive implementation over time. We propose a third, calculative IT implementation model and empirically assess the validity of these diverging models. Design/methodology/approach We took a qualitative, theory-testing approach. Cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2001 and 2011 – yielding responses from 62 matching firms – showed dynamic IT implementation patterns over time and allowed the selection of nine case studies for comparison. Findings Results provide substantial support for a calculative model alongside the situational and progressive perspectives. This model addresses three problematic assumptions that underpin the progressive and situational perspectives: (1) that IT implementation will follow logical stages, (2) that implementation of these technologies represents a rational choice, and (3) that managers implement these technologies to improve the performance of entire supply chains. Research limitations/implications The empirical investigations were limited to Australian manufacturers. Further studies should extend the generalisability of the findings and study the phenomenon in different contexts. Practical implications The study enhances practitioners’ understanding of the difficulties and complexities of IT implementation decisions among supply chain partners. Such an understanding may motivate managers to pursue IT adoption that goes beyond addressing locally focused performance metrics. Originality/value Our findings make a significant theoretical and practical contribution and provide the basis for isolating and operationalising the calculative model for further empirical testing.

Cloud computing: Web-based dynamic IT services

Cloud computing is a buzz-word in todays information technology (IT) that nobody can escape. But what is really behind it? There are many interpretations of this term, but no standardized or even uniform definition. Instead, as a result of the multi-faceted viewpoints and the diverse interests expressed by the various stakeholders, cloud computing is perceived as a rather fuzzy concept.With this book, the authors deliver an overview of cloud computing architecture, services, and applications. Their aim is to bring readers up to date on this technology and thus to provide a common basis for discussion, new research, and novel application scenarios. They first introduce the foundation of cloud computing with its basic technologies, such as virtualization and Web services. After that they discuss the cloud architecture and its service modules. The following chapters then cover selected commercial cloud offerings (including Amazon Web Services and Google App Engine) and management tools, and present current related open-source developments (including Hadoop, Eucalyptus, and Open CirrusTM). Next, economic considerations (cost and business models) are discussed, and an evaluation of the cloud market situation is given. Finally, the appendix contains some practical examples of how to use cloud resources or cloud applications, and a glossary provides concise definitions of key terms.The authors presentation does not require in-depth technical knowledge. It is equally intended as an introduction for students in software engineering, web technologies, or business development, for professional software developers or system architects, and for future-oriented decision-makers like top executives and managers.

Improving data-center efficiency for a Smarter Planet

In 2009, IBM launched its Smarter Planet™ initiative, which is based on the paradigm that virtually any physical object, process, or system can be instrumented, interconnected, and infused with intelligence. Because of the increased demand for information technology (IT) to facilitate Smarter Planet solutions, physical data centers have become interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent (i.e., adaptable, scalable, energy efficient, and cost effective). “Green data centers,” which are discussed in this paper, are those that make use of facilities and IT integration, resulting in lower energy costs, reduced carbon footprint, and reduced demand for power, space, and cooling resources. This paper reviews energy-efficiency strategies that are being incorporated in eight million square feet of data-center space that IBM operates in support of its customers. These strategies include both a dynamic infrastructure IT initiative and an energy-efficiencies pillar of the IBM New Enterprise Data Center initiative. For example, compared to nonmodular designs, implementation of a modular design to optimize expandable data centers will better match the IT demand with the data-center energy supply. This high-level overview describes the integration of these strategies to create a class of leading-edge IBM data centers and a plan for the optimization of existing data centers.

Competitive Advantage of Operational and Dynamic Information Technology Capabilities

Based on contradictory findings reported by researchers into the payoffs of information technology (IT) investments, a key question for information system researchers and practitioners concerns what role IT may play in enhancing competitive advantage. In this study, IT is conceptualized as a capability, and a differentiation is made between the routine use of IT as operational IT capability and the purposeful use of IT to achieve change, that is, dynamic IT capability, in order to analyze and describe the direct effect of IT capabilities on competitive advantage. The research design will be a crosssectional survey, using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the empirical analysis will take as its population the financial and industrial firms of Lima, Peru.

Beyond the Model: Building an Effective and Dynamic IT Curriculum

Introduction Efforts to define an Information Technology (IT) discipline across educational institutions began in earnest in 2001, and included parallel work to develop both IT accreditation criteria and a model IT curriculum. The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) formed a special committee to write a formal IT document in 2003. The latest version of their report describes a core curriculum, which was developed from the input of more than 30 educators and professionals representing numerous educational institutions and organizations (ACM/SIGITE Curriculum Committee, 2005). There is no doubt that the IT model document is a milestone in the continuing development of IT education. It is both a framework for development and a standard of excellence. A significant value of the model is that it provides an academically and professionally validated core body of educational content. The ACM Joint Task Force for Computing Curricula (2005) also prepared an informative overview report that differentiates the various computing curricula, including IT, computer science, and information systems. Both the IT document and the overview report are effective tools for educational institutions considering the establishment of an IT program. For existing programs, they provide practical value for self-assessment and validation activities, and for preparation for the accreditation process. However, a model such as that proposed by ACM/SIGITE is, by its nature, limited. As stated in the model document, the proposed body of knowledge does not by itself constitute a curriculum (ACM/SIGITE Curriculum Committee, 2005, p. 20). Regardless of its merit, the IT model is limited in its utility for developing a fully-functional, effective and dynamic curriculum. Although it presents examples of elective outcomes and suggests content and strategies for developing a curriculum, the model limits its scope to defining the core knowledge areas and knowledge units. This recommended core content constitutes less than 20% of the expected IT (ACM/SIGITE Curriculum Committee, 2005). A good strategy for building a complete, effective and dynamic is to use the model as a base and to build on it and customize it to adapt to the needs and requirements of a specific program. As described in the model, a complete must include additional educational components such as fundamental knowledge in math, science, and interpersonal skills. Most programs will develop courses in specialized IT areas as well, to offer students deeper knowledge in particular areas. Some programs will choose specific application domains (such as in a particular industry) and may include interdisciplinary coverage in their curricula. In addition to its intentional, limited scope, a second significant limitation of the model is that being a standard, it is generic. As noted in the model document, a program must adapt to its own needs, circumstances and characteristics--including factors such as its mission and goals; the skills and knowledge of incoming students; faculty and laboratory resources; and job placement. For example, by virtue of its mission and funding, a program may have a regional focus--that is, its reflects the needs of the surrounding community it directly serves. If there is a dominant technology, industry or employer, then it is appropriate to tailor a for that environment. Also, a program may elect to use the advantage of locally available faculty and professional expertise and other applicable resources to differentiate and distinguish its program. A third limitation, perhaps the most significant, is that a model is relatively static. That is, it is a snapshot of the needs and expectations of a particular time. …

A Dynamic IT Adoption Model for the SOHO Market: PC Generational Decisions with Technological Expectations

The small-office/home-office (SOHO) professionals comprise the fastest growing segment in the labor force today. Typically being a one-person business based at home, SOHO owners mostly rely on office information technology to single handedly run their entire operation. Despite the segment's ostensibly growing dependence and influence on the information technology (IT) industry, still very little is known about the dynamics between SOHO and IT products. With the purpose of addressing this void, we investigate the SOHO professionals' adoption patterns of multigenerational IT products. Accordingly, we develop and empirically estimate an individual SOHO-level initial- and repeat-purchase logit model that captures the procurement patterns for successive generations of technological products, namely the PC category. Specifically, we find that SOHO professionals' procurement choices are influenced by a number of salient dimensions (i.e., income, performance, price, interpurchase time, network externalities). Furthermore, some SOHO owners are found to have a preference for a future (expected) generation (over a currently available one), which is explained via their business dispositions (i.e., technology orientation, result orientation, search orientation) toward accepting technological incertitude.