An Empirical Investigation on the Role of IT Materiality in Multidisciplinary Innovation

Knowledge needs to traverse through social and cognitive boundaries as it is transformed from information to innovation. Little is known, however, regarding what, if any, role various IT material constraints and affordances play in supporting multidisciplinary innovations involving the complexities of heterogeneous knowledge. The notion of affordance has been used in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to describe the action opportunities afforded by IT functionalities. By IT materiality, we refer to a set of “features that provide opportunities for and constraints on actions” (Leonardi and Barley 2008). We propose and empirically test a model to address this gap by drawing from the concepts of affordance, social structure theory, and the design of IT functionalities. We hypothesize that the impact of cognitive heterogeneity on innovation performance will be mediated by knowledge coordination and perspective taking. Further, we hypothesize that this relationship will be moderated by the material affordances of IT

Interfirm IT Capability Profiles and Communications for Cocreating Relational Value: Evidence from the Logistics Industry

This study seeks to identify the means by which information technology helps cocreate relational value in the context of interfirm relationships in the logistics industry—a large and information-intensive industry. We identify a set of IT functionalities—single-location shipping, multilocation shipping, supply chain visibility, and financial settlement—that can be used to manage the flows of physical goods, information, and finances across locations in interfirm logistics processes. Progressively more advanced sets of IT functionalities, when implemented and used in the interfirm relationship to execute logistics processes, are proposed to form four distinct IT capability profiles of increased sophistication. Interfirm IT capability profiles of higher sophistication are proposed to help cocreate greater relational value by facilitating the flows of physical goods, information, and finances across locations in the interfirm logistics process. Besides their direct role in helping cocreate relational value, these interfirm IT capability profiles are proposed to further enhance relational value cocreation when complemented by interfirm communications for business development and IT development.Our empirical study was situated in one of the world’s largest logistics suppliers and over 2,000 of its interfirm relationships with buyers across industries. Integrated data from four archival sources on the IT functionalities implemented and used in interfirm logistics relationships, interfirm communications, relational value (share of wallet and loyalty), and multiple control variables were collected. The results show that the proposed interfirm IT capability profiles and interfirm communications have both a direct and an interaction effect on relational value. Implications for cocreating relational value in interfirm relationships with the aid of IT are discussed

A Multi-channel Application Framework for Customer Care Service Using Best-First Search Technique

It has become imperative to find a solution to the dissatisfaction in response by mobile service providers when interacting with their customer care centres. Problems faced with Human to Human Interaction (H2H) between customer care centres and their customers include delayed response time, inconsistent solutions to questions or enquires and lack of dedicated access channels for interaction with customer care centres in some cases. This paper presents a framework and development techniques for a multi-channel application providing Human to System (H2S) interaction for customer care centre of a mobile telecommunication provider. The proposed solution is called Interactive Customer Service Agent (ICSA). Based on single-authoring, it will provide three media of interaction with the customer care centre of a mobile telecommunication operator: voice, phone and web browsing. A mathematical search technique called Best-First Search to generate accurate results in a search environmen

Supporting Knowledge Sharing Visibility: A Qualitative Analysis

Knowledge sharing visibility is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing. This is especially true in IT-based knowledge sharing. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design IT-based Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) to support high knowledge sharing visibility. This paper examines the impact of knowledge management technology functions (e.g., tracking, knowledge storing) on knowledge sharing visibility through qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with participants in a Chinese company. Impact and implications of use for their existing KMS are examined. Results encourage applied statistical, tracking, knowledge distribution and knowledge storing functions for monitoring explicit knowledge sharing, and suggest integration of knowledge maps with communication tools (e.g., instant messenger) to support visibility for implicit knowledge sharing. Extension to use of web 2.0 technologies (e.g., weblogs) in KMS is also explored