Management Commitments that Maximize Business Impact from IT

A long-standing question for both IT research and management practice has been: how can IT be used in organizations to increase firm performance? IT researchers have provided many candidate capabilities that impact business and financial performance, including enterprise architecture, IT governance, IT metrics, top management engagement, IT-business alignment, and business and IT unit capabilities. However, based on a series of case studies, we propose that a limited number of enterprise commitments are key to maximizing business value from IT. We demonstrate, via a survey of 221 respondents in publicly traded firms, that these commitments are positively correlated to Business Impact from IT, which in turn correlates with higher financial performance

Digital Infrastructure, Business Unit Competitiveness, and Firm Performance Growth: The Moderating Effects of Business Unit IT Autonomy

This study examines the benefits that firms accrue from digital infrastructures that are effective in supporting corporate and business unit strategic objectives—which we term digital infrastructure effectiveness. We hypothesize that digital infrastructure effectiveness influences two types of performance outcomes—namely, business unit competitive performance and firm performance growth. We further hypothesize that these relationships are both moderated by the degree of business unit IT autonomy. Using data from an international survey of multi-business firms, we find that business unit IT autonomy exerts differential moderation effects on the relationships between digital infrastructure effectiveness and the two types of performance outcomes. As business unit IT autonomy increases, the effect of digital infrastructure effectiveness on business unit competitive performance gets stronger, while its effect on firm performance growth gets weaker. The primary contribution of this paper is explaining how and when digital infrastructures influence business unit performance and firm performance growth

Effects of Employee Engagement and Adoption of Information Technology on Individual Employee Performance

The lack of workers is one manufacturing’s most dire situations. The U.S. manufacturing industry has experienced significant growth over the past few decades, and according to research conducted by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, over the next 10 years, manufacturers will need to add 4.6 million manufacturing jobs, 2.4 million of which may go unfilled (Bolt, 2018). Skilled, engaged workers are critical to the success of manufacturing operations. Kahn (1990) referenced personal engagement and personal disengagement as “behaviors by which people bring in or leave out their personal selves during work role performances.” According to Gallup’s 2016 State of the American Workplace report, engaged employees are more present and productive, attuned to customer needs, and more observant to processes, standards, and systems. Combined, the behaviors of highly engaged employees lead to an average of 21% increased profitability (Gallup, 2016). The quality and timing of information technology-enabled manufacturing systems has the potential to magnify the effects of individual efforts to achieve greater output. Conversely, poorly implemented information technology (IT) in manufacturing may create a negative effect and place pressure on shop floor team members, thus impacting manufacturing performance and employee engagement (Wall et al. 1990). This research seeks to study the impact that the relationship between IT and employee engagement (EE) has on individual employee performance (IEP) with the goal of prescribing how manufacturers may leverage their current workforce and the proper adoption of IT. This research will prescribe a study in a manufacturing environment to compare IEP measurements of safety, quality, and productivity in a control plant and in an experimental plant undergoing the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. There are implications of this study for scholarly and practical application with suggestions for future research

Drivers of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

Digital transformation is one of the most current topics for the manufacturing industry. This transfor-mation affects the operational value creation process, enables new ways of doing business and leads to fun-damental changes in organizations. However, the implementation of new digital technologies, as well as the realization of these changes, still face many difficulties. It is important to understand organizational and individual adoption processes. Which drivers push the adoption of digital technologies in manufacturing? We used a qualitative research approach to gain in-depth insights from interviews with 16 participants. For digital transformation in manufacturing, we identified 12 drivers as well as perceived or expected advantages that arise with the technology use. Companies are mainly motivated by the goal of process improvement and demands communicated by their customers. We aim to strengthen the understanding of the whole disruptive and vast changing processes which are ongoing in manufacturing

Digital transformation and organizational implications

Digital technologies surround us. Some technologies, such as platforms, help us book our holidays, others, like apps, transform our appearance, and more sophisticated technology, such as artificial intelligence, even translates texts for us. With that in mind, it seems almost unbelievable that there are yet areas in our lives that are not digital but require pen and paper. This dissertation aims to gain a better understanding of the ongoing digital transformation of organizations, with a specific focus on the following aspects: (1) understand what digital transformation is and how it affects firms, (2) shed light on the business value implications and contingencies in the SME context, and (3) to unravel different actions on how firms may deal with institutional pressure. Chapter 2 addresses the conceptual nature of digital transformation through a literature review and provides a process model for different stages of digital change and insights on transforming from the analog world into a digitally transformed organization. Chapter 3 deals with the business value implications of digital transformation for small to medium firms (SMEs) by focusing on the pressure between doing radically different activities and overcoming established routines is provided. Chapter 4 takes a broader perspective on the institutional arrangement and how digital transformation may promote legitimacy challenges. Finally, Chapter 5 ties everything together, presents a general discussion of the different studies and their outcomes, explores managerial and societal implications, and offers future research directions

The Current State of and Possible Future Avenues for IT Value Research: A Review of the past 10 Years

Since the ongoing proliferation of information technology (IT) in our private and professional lives, researchers have been concerned with the conceptualization and measurement of the “value” that technology brings us. To this end, researchers have based their assumptions and theories on the technological achievements and perceptions of technology at that time. Ever since the introduction of smart phones, broadband Internet, and social networks, much has changed in the way we perceive and appropriate IT value. In order to identify possible white spots for future research, we present a systematic literature review of the past 10 years of research in this area. In doing so, we develop a taxonomy for analyzing the IT value literature. The results of our analysis indicate that the majority of current work focuses on ex post measurement of the monetary value of IT for businesses. Only a few articles were found that employed an alternative lens in defining IT value. With the blurring boundaries between private and professional life, these approaches become increasingly more important. We discuss the general implications of our findings with a view to possible new themes for the next years of research

IT governance matter: A structured literature review

The aim of this paper is to critically explore information technology governance (ITG) context, its consequences, its various aspects, its determinants, disclosure, maturity, and challenges. There are some motivations that urge the researchers to carry out this study. First, the review of prior relevant literature reveals a limited number of studies addressing the IT governance context, its consequences, its various aspects, its determinants, and challenges. Second, very little is known about the potential implications of IT governance within the business and how it is significant to the decision-makers (e.g., shareholders, board of directors, executives, etc.). Finally, little research employs the structured literature review (SLR) approach to critically discuss and analyze the IT governance context with its various aspects. The systematic and structured literature review has been employed for a critical analysis of the previous studies on IT governance. It is found that effective ITG has a positive impact on the firm performance in consistent with Altemimi and Zakaria (2017), Hulme (2012). Additionally, it is concluded that there is a positive association between ITG, the trustworthiness and the level of financial disclosure agreeing with (Raghupathi, 2007; Ali & Green, 2007). It is also concluded that the level of ITG disclosure is higher within firms in Europe (67%) than in the US (49%) complementing with Joshi et al. (2013). The adoption of the SLR methodology enables this paper to derive unbiased empirical insights and critique into the current ITG research and to identify possible directions for future ITG research, which may possibly be of interest to the academics, regulators, and professional bodies (e.g., shareholders, board of directors, executives, etc.)

Strategies for Reducing Professional Turnover in Information Technology

The information technology (IT) industry workforce in the United States is expected to increase by approximately 50,000 jobs through the year 2024, creating opportunities for employees to change jobs if they are not satisfied. Replacing talented IT professionals can cost a business as much as 150% of the salary of the outgoing employee. The purpose of this descriptive single case study was to identify strategies successful IT business leaders used to reduce voluntary turnover among IT professionals. The research population was 4 leaders from an IT business in southeastern Virginia, who oversee supervisory and hiring. The conceptual framework was Herzberg\u27s 2-factor theory. The data were collected using semistructured interviews and reviews of applicable organization documents. Yin\u27s 5 phases of analysis were the means to process the data resulting in the 5 themes of flexibility, individual, recognition, team, and work-life balance. Recognition and flexibility were the 2 key themes that made significant contributions to the organizational culture and success for the business. The implications for social change include companies using unspent replacement cost dollars to invest in local communities, improve the local economic growth, and provide incentives for employee quality of life and improved work environment