Elucidating the role of IT/IS assessment and resource allocation in IT/IS performance in hospitals

Although similar to firms in other industries that strive to increase their operational efficiency by implementing IT/IS, hospitals face difficulties in obtaining the corresponding benefits of investing in IT/IS. This study investigates the relations among IT/IS performance, IT maturity, IT/IS assessment, IT/IS resource allocation, and user satisfaction in hospitals. IT/IS performance in hospitals is evaluated using a designed questionnaire, along with a case study undertaken to discuss IT/IS assessment and the effect of IT/IS on hospital procedures. The analysis results indicate that hospitals have a higher IT maturity, stronger intention to implement IT/IS assessment, and better IT/IS resource allocation capabilities than firms in other industries. Moreover, both IT/IS assessment and user satisfaction affect IT/IS performance in hospitals.     

Empirical analysis of risk-taking behavior in IT platform migration decisions

Information technology (IT) platform migration incurs a great deal of risk because of the massive rewriting of legacy systems and a wide range of new technology adoptions. Therefore IT platform decisions need to be made in a mindful manner because of the high degree of investment risk. However, more aggressive migrations, compared to the global trend, to an open system have been observed in Korean organizations. This phenomenon defies the common understanding of IT investment risk and encourages the investigation of the elusive characteristics underlying IT investment decisions. The effect of IT decision-makers’ perceptions and risk propensity on their IT platform migration decisions is examined in the context of risky decisions. In addition to risk perception, decision-makers’ risk propensity also has a significant effect on IT investment decisions. By observing the monarchical IT governance and IT-biased careers of decision-makers, some implications of large-scale IT investment decisions are derived.     

Managing culture creep: Toward a strategic model of user IT culture

This article describes a framework of IT user culture that has implications for organizational IT strategy. The research was conducted in multiple settings with a grounded theory approach. The resulting framework is anchored to nine archetypal IT user profiles and encompasses their inter-group dynamics. By adopting a cultural perspective on IT usage, the framework can inform IT adoption and usage strategy with possible cultural antecedents and determinants of usage constructs common in IS research. The proposed framework suggests how management can influence the migration of IT user culture (culture creep). This framework can also enrich other acceptance models in order to more fully consider the human factor during IT implementation and adoption. The results underscore the importance of culture-customizing organizational IT socialization, training and evolution programs.     

Assessing the importance of industry in the adoption and assimilation of IT: Evidence from Italian enterprises

We analysed the role of industry in determining the diffusion and business value created by IT. Data was collected for this purpose by surveying 192 large enterprises in Italy. Our research revealed three findings. First, in the material services and non-hi-tech manufacturing industries, firms had a relatively limited adoption of IT, resulting in little business impact. Second, firms’ IT spending behaviour depended on their industry type and not on their IT capabilities. However their capabilities were more important than industry in explaining why firms achieved benefits from IT adoption that depended on the previous accumulation of IT resources and other capabilities. Third, industry type determined the degree to which IT affected profitability and its effectiveness in helping firms to defend their competitive advantage. Specifically, the slower the adoption of IT in an industry, the greater its impact on the firm's profitability.The implications of these findings for managers and policy-makers are discussed.     

Inside the adaptive enterprise: an information technology capabilities perspective on business process agility

Recent innovations in utility computing, web services, and service-oriented architectures, combined with a growing array of IT skills, have improved firms’ ability to be more agile in responding to change. Using the resource-based view of the firm, prior research suggests that IT resources, in isolation, are unlikely to yield superior performance and so as firms try to boost their agility, the question becomes how to configure IT resources to prepare for, or react to, change. In this paper, we posit that managerial IT capabilities based on IT-business partnerships, strategic planning, and ex-post IT project analysis lead to the development of technical IT capabilities associated with a flexible IT infrastructure which in turn drives agility or a firm’s ability to react to change in its products and markets. Using data from matched surveys of IT and business executives in 241 firms, we find that managerial and technical capabilities affect agility. In further testing, we reveal that in a stable setting, technical IT capabilities are more important to agility than managerial IT capabilities, while in a dynamic setting, the opposite is true. Thus, for firms operating in volatile markets, effective models of managerial IT governance are essential for delivering superior agility or adaptiveness.

我国IT服务行业的发展前景与人才储备需求分析

随着经济全球化发展趋势加快和市场竞争的加剧,如何专注自己的核心业务已经成为企业最重要的生存法则之一.2000年至今,全球IT服务外包业务高速增长带动了全球IT服务外包产业的快速发展,IT服务企业雨后春笋一般纷纷成长起来,但IT服务企业数量和规模还远远不够,IT服务人才短缺和结构的不合理严重制约了我国IT服务外包产业的快速发展.随着中国IT技术市场与国际标准的全面接轨,IT服务人才的培养和储备已经成为我国与各国IT服务行业之间竞争的主要砝码.本文分析了我国IT服务行业的发展前景,以及对IT服务人才的潜在需求,以帮助IT服务企业做好人力资源规划,同时也为高等学校培养IT服务人才提供参考依据.     

Understanding the most critical skills for managing IT projects: A Delphi study of IT project managers

The skill requirements for project managers in information technology (IT) projects have not been widely studied in the past, especially in terms of their relative importance. We addressed this gap in the literature by conducting a Delphi study with 19 IT project managers (PMs). Among the list of 48 skills identified, our panelists selected 19 skills as being the most critical for IT PMs and then ranked them based on their relative importance. Follow-up interviews were conducted with selected panelists to gain insights into the importance of the top-ranked IT PM skills. We compare our results with two previous studies of IT PM skills and discuss the implications for research and practice.     

IT centrality,IT management model,and contribution of the IT function to organizational performance: A study in Canadian hospitals

The characterization of the IT function in organizations represents a central topic of investigation in the information systems field. The main purpose of this study was to predict the contribution of the IT function to organizational performance by focusing on the centrality of IT and the IT management profile as primary determinants. A cross-sectional survey of CIOs working in Canadian hospitals reveals that IT centrality positively influences the strategic orientation of the IT management model. In turn, the stronger the strategic orientation of the IT management model in place, the greater is the IT function’s contribution to organizational performance.     

An empirical examination of a process-oriented IT business success model

The value of information technology (IT) to modern organizations is almost undeniable. However, the determination of that value has been elusive in research and practice. We used a process-oriented research model developed using two streams of IT research to examine the value of IT in business organizations. One stream is characterized by examining how IT and non-IT variables affect other so-called IT success variables. The second stream is commonly referred to as IT business value, defined as the contribution of IT to firm performance. The resulting research model is referred to in our paper as the IT business success model. Data was collected from 225 top IS executives in fairly large organizations to empirically examine several hypotheses derived from theory concerning the causal nature of the IT business success model. A set of measures for the IT business success model was developed through an intense investigation of the IT literature. The measures were tested for validity and reliability using confirmatory factor analysis. The hypotheses that resulted from past research and conceptually illustrated in the research model were assessed using structural equation analysis. The implications of these findings and the limitations of the study are discussed in an effort to contribute to building a process-oriented theory base for IT business success at the organizational level of analysis.     

Impact of IT Governance and IT Capability on Firm Performance

Based on resource-based and strategic choice theory, this research empirically validates that IT governance is an important antecedent of IT capability, which in turn results in improved firm performance. This article contributes to the IS literature by proposing a comprehensive measure of IT governance based on secondary data, and simultaneously examining the impact of IT governance and IT capability on firm performance.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship Between IT Training Sources and IT Value

Information technology (IT) training has been identified as a key factor for the success of IT applications and the most frequently applied coping mechanism to handle changing IT. However, there is a question as to how IT training has to be conducted to obtain desired outcomes (higher levels of IT value). This paper analyses the presence of IT training sources used by firms and examines the influence on IT business value. Here, IT training is studied according to three IT training sources: in-house IT training, outside IT training, and self IT training by employees. In addition, differences in IT training sources are analysed according to two contingency factors: business size and business industry. Results show a positive relationship between IT training sources (outside and self IT training) and IT business value and confirm that IT training sources are positively related to business size and differ moderately by business industry.     

Exploring IT Dependence and IT Governance

The purpose of this study is to identify the IT governance mechanisms that are used at different levels of IT dependence (defensive or offensive IT modes) and to compare the degree of their use between these IT modes. The results of a survey suggest that the degree of use of IT governance mechanisms varies by IT mode, and it is greater when a firm is in offensive versus defensive IT mode.     

Maximizing the positive influence of IT for improving organizational performance

In the analysis of whether information technology (IT) has an impact on organizational performance, focus is usually placed on the relationship between an organization’s investments in IT and that organization’s performance. Therefore, it is standard to devote special attention to the size and complexity of the organization, to the investments in other organizational resources that may affect the performance of IT, and to the manner in which the two variables are measured. However, one area that has not been well explored is the manner in which the relationship between investments in IT and organizational performance develops. In this article, we show empirically that the planning and management of IT influence the organization’s endowment of resources (physical and human), which consequently has positive effects on each of the IT-related areas usually found in organizations (applications, reliable and secure systems and communications, and training and support). In turn, the functioning of these areas influences the impact of IT on the organization, which then has positive effects on organizational performance. We have used data corresponding to IT management in Spanish universities, as well as independent rankings that are useful for evaluating their performance.     

The IT Value Hierarchy: Using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a Metaphor for Gauging the Maturity Level of Information Technology Use within Competitive Organizations

The purpose of this paper is to present a hierarchy of progressive IT maturity using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a metaphor for articulating the increasing value that can be derived by the application of Information Technology within competitive organizations. The authors refer to this maturity model as the IT Value Hierarchy. Each level of the IT Value Hierarchy is described using examples and comparisons to Maslow's Hierarchy. The model can be used by IT executives as a framework for better explaining and discussing the value of increasingly sophisticated Information Technology use within the enterprise.     

Isolated versus integrated case studies: A comparison in the context of teaching complex and domain-specific IT applications

Previous research on IT fluency in connection with non-IT majors points at the increasing need for more “realistic” courses teaching the use of complex and domain-specific IT applications. That research also suggests certain desirable course design characteristics, of which one of the most important is the close integration of realistic case study-based material into one single course (as opposed to the less costly alternative of inserting single case study-based material into other courses). This paper describes a study in which the use of case study-based learning modules in an integrated way (i.e., as part of one main course) is compared against the use of those modules in isolation (i.e., inserted into other courses). The modules have been designed to teach complex and domain-specific IT applications in three main domains – anthropology, sociology, and chemistry. The study, which involved 76 undergraduate students, suggests that the integration of modules into one single course, when compared with the option of using the modules in isolation, significantly increased the level of perceptions of IT’s potential for solving complex problems, perceived learning about specialized IT applications, and perceived learning about IT issues in general. The key conclusion of the study is that integration may be a desirable option regardless of the potential extra costs involved.     

How does the application of an IT service innovation affect firm performance? A theoretical framework and empirical analysis on e-commerce

Understanding the effects of IT-related innovations on firm performance is crucial for businesses. Extant research has investigated the implications of IT innovations and provided some important findings, but the varied theoretical approaches have produced results that are often ambiguous: thus there is a need to examine the process further. We attempted to provide a systematic, theoretically informed framework for understanding the conditions that may enhance (or hinder) the potential of IT innovations in a sample of firms. Our model included business and IT resources, both internal and external, that may influence the performance of firms which have applied a pervasive IT service innovation: e-commerce. Our empirical test of the model used a research design that takes into account time-lag effects. The model explained more than half of the variance in the performance of IT innovators and offered several explanations for why some firms succeeded in implementing IT service innovations while others did not. Several theoretical and managerial implications result from these findings.     

The IT Value Hierarchy: Using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a Metaphor for Gauging the Maturity Level of Information Technology Use within Competitive Organizations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a hierarchy of progressive IT maturity using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a metaphor for articulating the increasing value that can be derived by the application of Information Technology within competitive organizations. The authors refer to this maturity model as the IT Value Hierarchy. Each level of the IT Value Hierarchy is described using examples and comparisons to Maslow's Hierarchy. The model can be used by IT executives as a framework for better explaining and discussing the value of increasingly sophisticated Information Technology use within the enterprise.     

IT组织在企业中的定位和作用

在企业发展的不同阶段,IT组织的作用和地位是不一样的,而且不同规模、行业的IT组织的境遇也有着巨大差异,本文就非IT类企业内部的信息化管理组织机构的定位和作用做出阐述     

Closing the loop: Empirical evidence for a positive feedback model of IT business value creation

Researchers have established that information technology (IT) can improve firms’ productivity. Whether improved productivity leads to additional investment in IT, however, remains largely uninvestigated. In this paper, we consider whether the relationship between productivity and subsequent IT investment might be positive, negative, or ad hoc, and hypothesize that this relationship is positive. We analyze seven years of panel data from 1236 healthcare firms and present empirical evidence supporting our hypothesis. When our finding is combined with extant research, it becomes reasonable to propose that unidirectional causality does not fully describe the process of IT business value creation. Instead, we argue that existing static models of IT business value with unidirectional causality can be recast as dynamic models that explicitly incorporate multiple time periods and a positive feedback relationship to more accurately capture the complexity of this process. The creation of IT business value can thus be understood as a positive feedback model where IT investment in a given time period builds the stock of IT inputs, where those IT inputs then impact productivity, and where productivity leads to IT investment in a future time period, beginning the cycle anew.     

Analyzing the impact of a firm's capability on outsourcing success: A process perspective

We investigated the effect of a firm's resource capabilities and interaction processes on the success of IT outsourcing. Grounded in available literature on outsourcing relationship and process theory as well as a resource-based view of the IT resource capability, a conceptual model was composed to examine the causal structure of capability, process, and relationship in IT outsourcing. We identified the firm's resource capability factors and, based on the premise that relationship intensity should be affected by the IT outsourcing process, we developed a first-order factor analysis of resource capabilities in the interactions between the outsourcer and provider. Results of empirical testing using responses from 267 IT outsourcing project teams in Korea supported most of our hypotheses. The integration of corporate IT resource and capability theories with social exchange theory distinguishes our research from that of others, who have generally treated these theories separately.