Value Of Information Technology Research Articles

Business value of IT for small and medium enterprises during COVID-19: a systematic literature review

The article addresses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the Information Technology (IT) investments made by these companies between 2020 and 2023. The health crisis generated significant economic effects, particularly in emerging economies, exacerbating pre-existing economic fragility and inequality. The study seeks to identify, through a systematic review of the literature, the investments, contributions, and uses of IT by SMEs located in Latin American, Asian, and European countries during the aforementioned period. It is concluded that, during COVID-19, IT investments in SMEs were not only a response to crises, but also a strategic source of resilience and financial stability. IT investment was highlighted as essential for innovation, digital transformation, and business continuity. Although low employee digital skills persist, the trend towards IT investment is positive, allowing SMEs to take advantage of technological and governmental opportunities to face the challenging economic context.

Dual Pathways of Value Creation from Digital Strategic Posture: Contingent Effects of Competitive Actions and Environmental Uncertainty

Dual Pathways of Value Creation from Digital Strategic Posture: Contingent Effects of Competitive Actions and Environmental Uncertainty IN STOCK SKU 48.1.15 Publication History Received: October 9, 2019 Revised: December 20, 2020; February 23, 2022; November 7, 2022; June 7, 2023 Accepted: August 3, 2023 Published Online in Issue: March 1, 2024 https://doi.org/ Downloadable File Article PDF $15.00 Add to Cart Abstract Digital strategic posture (DSP) is defined as a firm’s overall strategic stance toward investing in information technology (IT) initiatives relative to that of rival firms. This study examines how a firm’s DSP affects firm performance. Drawing on the competitive dynamics perspective and contingency view, we demonstrate that DSP influences competitive actions through dual pathways. First, DSP enables firms to take competitive actions that are more appropriate given the level of environmental uncertainty (captured by industry dynamism). In particular, our findings suggest that a proactive DSP enables relatively more innovation-oriented actions in dynamic industries while enabling relatively more operations-oriented actions in less dynamic industries. Second, DSP plays a facilitating role in firms’ execution of competitive actions such that a firm’s value from its proactive DSP is enhanced when there is a fit between the type of the firm’s competitive actions and its level of environmental uncertainty. Specifically, we find that firms with a more proactive DSP achieve superior firm performance from innovation-oriented actions in dynamic industries and from operations-oriented actions in less dynamic industries. Taken together, our findings suggest that a proactive DSP not only allows firms to take appropriate competitive actions that fit their environmental conditions but also contributes to firms’ performance by facilitating the execution of these appropriate actions, thus enhancing their efficacy. Additional Details Author , , , and Year 2024 Volume 48 Issue 1 Keywords Digital strategic posture, competitive actions, innovation-oriented actions, operations-oriented actions, competitive dynamics, contingency view, business value of IT, IT strategy, industry dynamism Page Numbers 409-426

The Effects of Information Technology in Retailer Performance and Survival: The Case of Store-Based Retailers

This research aims to empirically examine the effects of Information Technology (IT) in the performance and survival of store-based retailers. In particular, we investigate how two types of IT resources—Overall IT investment and Human IT resources—respectively influence retailer performance and survival. We draw on the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and IT business value research to develop the hypotheses. Our study employs a longitudinal panel dataset at the firm level obtained from secondary sources from 2010 to 2021. Our sample includes 95 store-based public retailers in the U.S. and has 654 firm-year observations in total. We employ the dynamic panel model and binary logistic regression method to investigate the effects of IT resources on retailer performance and survival, respectively. Our empirical results indicate that while overall IT investment has a positive effect on a retailer’s survival, human IT resources positively influence performance. In addition, stronger performance leads to greater survival likelihood. The findings provide important theoretical, managerial and policy implications concerning the business value of IT in the retailing context.

Does enterprise social media use in the post-acceptance stage improve employee autonomy? An information processing perspective

PurposeWith the prevalence of enterprise social media (ESM), this study examines how the innovative and routine ESM use behaviors in the post-acceptance stage influence the quality and quantity dimensions of information processing (i.e. information equality and information overload), subsequently affecting employee autonomy grounded in the digital information management theoretical (DIMT) framework. This study further explores the moderating effects of communication visibility on the relationships between employee autonomy and each of the two information processing factors.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed theoretical model was empirically validated using survey data of 266 knowledge workers that use ESM in a hybrid working context.FindingsThe results demonstrate that innovative and routine ESM use have different impacts on the quality and quantity dimensions of information processing, and information equality (quality dimension) improves employee autonomy as expected, but, surprisingly, information overloads (quantity dimension) as well. ESM communication visibility positively moderates the relationship between employee autonomy and each dimension of information processing.Originality/valuePrior studies on ESM use widely focused on ESM's positive and negative outcomes and the mechanisms from the perspectives of employees' psychological and cognitive reactions. How ESM use behaviors in the post-acceptance stage empower employee autonomy and allow organizations to leverage the organizations' information technology (IT) investments remains unclear. Drawing on the information processing perspective, this study provides a novel angle to examine how to leverage IT values that stem from ESM use by considering the complementary roles of active and passive information processing.

IT impact on open innovation performance: Insights from a large-scale empirical investigation

Motivated by prior inconclusive findings on the effectiveness of open innovation initiatives in generating business value and the complexity of open innovation, this study draws on the IT-enabled organizational capabilities perspective to propose that the mobilization of information technology (IT) resources can positively affect the development of open innovation initiatives and, in turn, improve firms' open innovation performance. Our empirical analysis of >1100 large Spanish firms confirms that firms' IT resource investments positively impact the development and execution of open innovation initiatives, which in turn improves firms' open innovation performance in terms of product and process innovations. This research contributes to the business value of IT and to Information Systems (IS) research on open innovation by evidencing the enabling role of IT investment in achieving open innovation performance gains.

Estimating the Value of Information Technology in the Productivity of the Transport Sector

This paper expands a methodology, originally formulated for calculating the firm-level business value of Information Technology (IT), to that for a whole sector and applies it experimentally for the transport sector using statistical databases for several countries in Europe. The term “business value” means the quantified impact of a given technology, in this case, Information Technology, on the productivity of a sector or firm as measured by a given “yardstick” (e.g., sales, revenue, and many others). This is important to know in order to justify investments in a given technology or technological sector and for policy formulation or regulation. This paper proposes a novel methodology for calculating the business value of IT in a given sector. This is the first time that such a task is attempted because in the past most research was focused on calculating the business value at firm-level. The suggested methodology is then applied by use of panel data from the statistical records of national statistics for the transport sector. The results show that infrastructural investment in Information Technology has an impact on the transport sector’s output, in terms of its annual production value, of the order of 5–6%. Through sensitivity tests and a discussion of the results, it is estimated that the actual impact may probably be a bit higher but not much higher (in any case, something below the 10% figure). The application also shows that the suggested methodology can be applied for the estimation of the impact of any other technology or service on any given economic sector. Finally, a possible future conceptual model is presented for the expansion of the methodology to a more global and integrated level considering the interaction from other sectors as well as other technological and environmental factors.

Information technology investment and digital transformation: the roles of digital transformation strategy and top management

PurposeIn the context of the digital economy, information technology (IT) investment has become a necessary way for enterprises to transform digitally. However, why and how IT investment can enhance digital transformation is lacking in the literature. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), this study explored the impact mechanism of IT infrastructure on the digital transformation of enterprises from the perspective of the digital transformation strategy. Further, this study examined the moderating role of top management on the relationships between IT infrastructure and digital transformation strategy and between digital transformation strategy and enterprise's digital transformation.Design/methodology/approachThrough a questionnaire survey of Chinese enterprises, 180 sample data were collected, and the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the hypothesis.FindingsDigital transformation strategy fully mediates the relationship between IT infrastructure and enterprise digital transformation. Furthermore, top management has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between IT infrastructure and digital transformation strategy, as well as the relationship between digital transformation strategy and digital transformation.Originality/valueThis study explores the moderating role of top management in the relationship between IT and enterprise performance, as well as the mediating role of digital transformation strategy in the relationship between IT infrastructure investment and digital transformation performance. As a result, the study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on IT business value, digital transformation and strategic management. The authors' findings can help update managers' perceptions of IT value and provide theoretical guidance on deriving digital transformation performance from IT infrastructure investments.

Assessing the Connections among Top Management Support, IT Assimilation, and the Business Value of IT: A Meta-Analysis

Scholars and practitioners have long tried to understand the antecedents and consequences of information technology (IT) assimilation. Studies suggest that top management support is an important driver of IT assimilation; however, this broad takeaway provides little substantive guidance to researchers and practitioners. We also have a limited understanding of whether and when IT assimilation creates business value. We take stock of this literature with a meta-analysis. We found that top management support is positively related to IT assimilation, and assimilation is in turn positively related to the business value of IT. We also found that explicit support does not have any special effect on IT assimilation (compared to implicit support) and may not be related to business value at all. However, our results indicate that IT assimilation has a stronger effect on business value at the process level (versus firm level) and for enterprise IT innovations (versus function IT innovations). Finally, we found that support-assimilation and assimilation-value relationships are stronger in high (versus low) power distance cultures. Our collective findings can facilitate future research and help practitioners navigate IT assimilation initiatives.

The State of IT Governance in Uganda's Higher Institutions of Learning

Information technology (IT) has become an integral part of development in any organization. Dependence on IT brings concerns in organizations to handle its increasing complexity which necessitates the implementation of IT governance. However, IT governance is lacking in the public sector organizations of developing countries, leading to failure to realize the full potential value of IT. For Uganda's higher institutions of learning (HILs), implementation of IT governance is unexplored. Therefore, in this paper, the authors investigate the state of IT governance among the eight HILs in Uganda. Interviews were used to collect data which was categorized into structures, processes, and relational mechanisms. The results showed that the relational mechanisms like training were fairly implemented, while structures and processes like the IT steering committee and IT performance measurement respectively were poorly implemented.

Dynamic Influences of FDI and R&D Expenditures on IT Business Value: An Empirical Test from China

Information technology (IT) has become common in various economic and social fields, accompanied by the objective of facilitating the development of human society. However, the business value of IT has always been uncertain, with the IT “productivity paradox” problem becoming a core research topic. Previous studies on this issue have largely ignored the influences of national characteristics, such as foreign direct investment (FDI) and research and development (R&D) expenditure, on the business value of IT. To address this research gap, this study examined the dynamic influences of FDI and R&D expenditures on the business value of IT. Based on the assumption that the adjustment speed of economic growth is affected by both FDI and R&D expenditures, we established a partial adjustment model of dynamic adjustment speed and the individual and combined effects of FDI and R&D expenditures during the period from 2000 to 2017 to empirically examine the economic performance of China and its “productivity paradox” problem. The findings revealed that the individual and combined effects of FDI and R&D expenditures significantly improved the adjustment speed and economic performance of China during that period, that IT significantly influenced economic growth but did not improve economic performance, and that an IT “productivity paradox” existed in China at that time. In addition, IT-driven changes in economic performance could be compensated for or replaced by FDI and R&D expenditures, suggesting that these two factors have a substitutive or complementary effect on IT-driven changes. Therefore, the business value of IT business value was not determined by IT itself; rather, the important effects of national macroscopic factors, including FDI and R&D expenditures, must be taken into account.

Does IT matter for work meaningfulness?: Exploring the mediating role of job crafting

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how technology characteristics facilitate employees' work meaningfulness through job crafting.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies the survey method and collects data from 357 Chinese participants with the experience of using information technology (IT) at work.FindingsTechnology characteristics (i.e. technology reconfigurability and technology customization) enable employees to craft their jobs, contributing to work meaningfulness.Research limitations/implicationsIt remains to be seen whether the findings can be generalized to other cultural contexts. This study justifies the positive effects of IT but does not take into consideration the IT factors that might thwart job crafting.Practical implicationsIT is not merely a work tool. It is a contextual component strongly conducive to cultivating work meaningfulness. However, IT itself cannot directly lead to work meaningfulness. Instead, its contribution to job crafting matters.Originality/valueThe literature on the downstream impact of IT has yet to consider the value of IT for job crafting and work meaningfulness. This study verifies that job crafting is the linking mechanism between IT and work meaningfulness.

Research on Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Education

With the rapid development of Information Technology (IT) in China, the IT sector is well recognized as a wealth of opportunities for businesses and societies in the country. At the same time, China education system is also aware of the auxiliary value of IT. In this article, we have studied how artificial intelligence is used in education. This paper presents the possibility of the development of artificial intelligence technology has been reflected in many methodologies in education. Based on the study, we focus on the the importance of artificial intelligence usages in education. The study also looked at what types of artificial intelligence technologies are widely used in education sector. Within this area, the research presents the importance of artificial intelligence, technologies, and how teachers and students use them in their teaching and learning process. The paper result shows students can get out of the passive learning state by using artificial intelligence technology, and gradually transform from solving exercises to solving problems. In general, we design an information-based teaching model to display knowledge more intuitively in front of students, which not only enriches the overall teaching but also reduces the difficulty of students' learning. This article analyzes many aspects about the application of artificial intelligence in college teaching and learning. In this way, we aim to show that artificial intelligence is an essential tool in education. We show the research results about the use of artificial intelligence in the way we teach and learn, which we currently use, provides a great opportunity for further independent learning.

Why and how informatics and applied computing can still create structural changes and competitive advantage

Purpose In the new digital age, enterprises are facing an increasing global competition. In this paper, we first examine how Information Technology (IT) can play an important role in giving significant competitive advantage in the modern enterprises. The business value of IT is examined, as well as the limitations and the trade-offs that its applicability faces. Next, we present the basic principles for a successful IT strategy, considering the development of a long-term IT renovation plan, the strategic alignment of IT with the business strategy, and the adoption of an integrated, distributed, and interoperable IT platform. Finally, we examine how a highly functional and efficient IT organization can be developed. Design/methodology/approach Our methodological approach was based to the answers of the following questions: 1. Does IT still matter? 2. What is the business value created by IT along with the corresponding limitations and trade-offs? 3. How could a successful IT Strategy be build up? 4. How could an effective? T planning aligned with the business strategy be build up? 5. How could a homogenized and distributed corporate IT platform be developed? and finally, 6. How could a high-performance IT-enabled enterprise be build up? Findings The enterprises in order to succeed in the new digital area need to: 1. synchronize their IT strategy with their business strategy, 2. formulate a long-term IT strategy, 3. adopt IT systems and solutions that are implemented with elasticity, interoperability, distribution, and service-orientation. 4. keep a strategic direction towards the creation of an exceptional organization based on IT. Originality/value This paper is original with respect to the integrated approach the overall problem is examined. There is a prototype combined investigation of all perspectives for an effective enforcement of IT in a way that causes acceleration in competitive advantage when conducting business.

Assessing the business values of e-commerce and information technology separately and jointly and their impacts upon US firms' performance as measured by productive efficiency

The business values of information technology (IT) and electronic commerce (EC) have been discussed for years, yet virtually all previous studies have evaluated the values of IT and EC independently, instead of jointly; and ignored their impacts on the firm's performance and inputs relationships. This pioneering firm-level study bridges the gap by empirically investigating the complex relationships among IT and EC investments, relationships of inputs, and US firms' performance at the firm, industry, and sector levels, based on a panel dataset. We undertake a detailed analysis of the empirical results, seek to answer five major research questions, and discuss managerial and strategic implications.

Do Electronic Health Record Systems Increase Medicare Reimbursements? The Moderating Effect of the Recovery Audit Program

Electronic health record (EHR) systems allow physicians to automate the process of entering patient data relative to manual entry in traditional paper-based records. However, such automated data entry can lead to increased reimbursement requests by hospitals from Medicare by overstating the complexity of patients. The EHR module that has been alleged to increase reimbursements is the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system, which populates patient charts with default templates and allows physicians to copy and paste data from previous charts of the patient and other patients’ records. To combat increased reimbursements by hospitals from Medicare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implemented the Recovery Audit Program first as a pilot in six states between 2005 and 2009 and then, nationwide in the entire United States in 2010. We examine whether the adoption of CPOE systems by hospitals is associated with an increase in reported patient complexity and if the Recovery Audit Program helped to attenuate this relationship. We find that the adoption of CPOE systems significantly increases patient complexity reported by hospitals, corresponding to an estimate of $1 billion increase in Medicare reimbursements per year. This increase was attenuated when hospitals were regulated by the Recovery Audit Program. Notably, those recovery auditors who developed the ability to identify the use of default templates, copied and pasted data, and cloned records were the most effective in reducing increased reimbursements. These findings have implications on how to combat Medicare reimbursements paid by taxpayer dollars with the Recovery Audit Program and how this information technology (IT) audit can prevent the misuse of information systems to create artificial business value of IT by hospitals. Contributions to information systems and healthcare research, practice, and public policy are discussed. This paper was accepted by Chris Forman, information systems.

Effect of data privacy and security investment on the value of big data firms

The use of big data analytics (BDA) and related technologies by firms can raise concerns regarding data privacy and security (DPS). In this study, with stock return and risk as indicators of firm performance, we investigate how DPS investment affects the financial performance of BDA firms (firms with BDA investment) and non-BDA firms (firms without BDA investment). We use a difference-in-differences approach and apply the propensity score matching to 1400 DPS announcements made by 228 US firms whose stocks are publicly traded on US stock markets from 2004 to 2018. The main findings are as follows: (1) On average, DPS investment significantly reduces firms' systematic risk. (2) The risk reduction effects are greater for non-BDA firms than for BDA firms. Our results indicate that DPS investment reduces firm risk and that the business value of specific information technology (IT) investment (e.g., DPS) is influenced by firms' other IT assets (e.g., BDA). The present findings advance the literature on the business value of IT and firms' IT portfolio management in digitized business environments.

Role of information technology in enabling managerial dynamic capabilities

PurposeThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to explicate the role played by information technology (IT) in enabling managerial dynamic capabilities. By doing so, this paper seeks to address a critical theoretical gap regarding IT’s role in enabling dynamic capabilities (DCs). DCs are knowledge-intensive and information-intensive processes and play a crucial role in facilitating strategic renewal of firms operating in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environments. Although managers play a central role in the DCs framework, extant research has only focused on the role of IT in enabling firm-level and process-level DCs.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper uses the literatures on dynamic managerial capabilities, individual-level information system use, social capital, human capital, managerial cognition and technology-enabled learning to build propositions that link managerial IT use with the enablement of dynamic managerial capabilities.FindingsThis paper introduces a new construct called individual IT leveraging capability (IILC) and provides theoretically grounded arguments that link IILC with managerial social capital, managerial cognition and managerial human capital. It also explicates the relationships between managerial social capital, managerial cognition and managerial human capital and the dynamic managerial capabilities of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring.Research limitations/implicationsThe establishment of the linkage between IT and dynamic managerial capabilities extends the literature on the business value of IT. This work also adds to the literature on dynamic managerial capabilities by providing a theoretically grounded argument that IT can act as an antecedent of such capabilities.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is arguably the first to theorize the role of IT in enabling managerial DC and thus addresses a critical gap in academic research literature.

TRENDS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

The paper presents an analytical exposition, critical context and integrative conclusion on the trends and best practices in Information Technology Management, and reviews and evaluates the key issues, trends and future direction of Modern Information Technology Management. IT is generally accepted as a key enabler of economic and technological growth. Managers implement new technology to change something: the organization, the nature of work, relationships with other organizations, or some other facet of business. Information Technology (IT) plays a vital role in leveraging productivity and efficiency in private organizations, governments and research. The value of IT in any organization depends on its infrastructure, which consists of computers, network and telecommunication technologies, data and core software applications. Information Technology (IT) is now a force and driver of modern technological development and globalization, and makes the management of information more efficient and effective. Technology management entails all management activities that determine the application of policy, objectives and responsibilities as well as their execution in an organization in terms of planning, allocating resources, organizing and ensuring outcomes that improve processes. The major IT Management issues are: Using technology to design efficient and effective organizations; Developing a plan for information technology in the organization; Using IT as a part of corporate strategy; Taking advantage of interorganizational systems; Deciding on and developing new applications of IT; Reengineering business processes; Adopting special applications; Changing the organization; Managing the IT infrastructure in a time of explosive growth and technological change; Deciding whether and what to outsource; and Deciding how much to invest in IT. Knowledge and skills are a necessary and sufficient condition for technological progress. Developing countries lack enough skilled IT persons who can design, program, install, configure and maintain Information Technology in this constantly changing industry. Accordingly, lack of qualified and globally recognized IT professionals is seriously hampering IT adoption and development. Management Information Systems refer to information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, whereas IT Management refers to the IT related management activities in organizations.

Dual decision-making with discontinuance and acceptance of information technology: the case of cloud computing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate organizational information technology (IT) deployment from a dual decision-making perspective. This study builds on rational choice theory to characterize how the costs and values of incumbent IT and those of the corresponding new cloud computing influence a company's dual decision of discontinuance and acceptance.Design/methodology/approachThis study chooses cloud computing as the research context, since it is one of the most well-accepted ITs in current practice. By using survey methodology, the data were collected from organizations around the world. Our hypotheses were examined via multimethod analyses, including the partial least squares, the multinomial log it regression and the analysis of variance.FindingsThis research reveals that organizations often follow the dual decision-making process in IT deployment regarding a non-cloud, hybrid structure and full-cloud considers incumbent IT discontinuance and new cloud computing acceptance. These results indicate that organizations may embrace cloud computing because of its perceived high system compatibility and low support costs. Meanwhile, security threats remain the primary obstacles to conducting business in the cloud.Originality/valuePrevious studies mainly focus on a single aspect and do not reveal the intricacies of the interactions between the reduction of incumbent IT and the addition of new IT. To address this gap in the body of knowledge, our study proposes a dual decision model based on a dialectical understanding of new and incumbent IT mechanisms instead of a singular IT acceptance model.

Connecting the Role of the Information Technology Function to its Contribution to the Organization

ABSTRACT We investigate whether the information technology (IT) function’s competence and role affect organizational ambidexterity. We first hypothesize that IT function competence is positively related to organizational ambidexterity. Following this, we suggest that the role of the IT function moderates the aforementioned relationship. We test our hypotheses with a matched pair sample of business managers and IT managers. Our results show that IT function competence positively influences organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore, this relationship is stronger when the IT function aims to be an active business partner or aims to reduce architectural complexity. Our study contributes to research on the IT function and IT value.