Green Information Technology, Energy Efficiency, and Profits: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Prior studies argue that information technology (IT) can play an important role toward sustainable and “greener” growth, yet few studies have empirically assessed the adoption and efficacy of green information technology initiatives at the firm level. This study investigates the factors that influence green IT implementation in organizations; and the consequences of the green IT implementation in terms of energy conservation and profit. Based on a survey of 293 organizations in India, we find that top management commitment plays an important role in influencing perceived importance of green IT in an organization. In turn, the perceived importance of green IT initiatives within an organization influences the green IT spending as a percentage of overall IT spending. Among consequences of green IT implementation, green IT implementation is positively associated with higher reductions in IT equipment energy consumption and higher profit impact. We discuss the implications of the study for further research, policy, and managerial practice to design and encourage implementation of green IT initiatives for environmental sustainability

Industry-Specific Human Capital and Wages: Evidence from the Business Process Outsourcing Industry

Human capital is becoming more critical as the global economy becomes more information intensive and service intensive. While IS researchers have studied some dimensions of human capital, the role of industry-specific human capital has remained understudied. The IT-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) industry provides an ideal setting to study returns to human capital, because jobs in this industry are standardized and many professionals in this new industry have come from other industries. We build on IS and Economics literature to theorize returns to human capital in the BPO industry, and we test the theory using data for over 2,500 BPO professionals engaged in call center work and other non-voice services (e.g., accounting, finance, HR, etc.) in India during the 2006-2008 time period. We find higher returns to industry-specific human capital than to firm-specific and general human capital. We also find that junior-level professionals, whose jobs are relatively more standardized, have higher returns to industry-specific human capital than senior-level professionals. We discuss implications for further research and practice in the global economy where inter-industry transfers and migration of skills are becoming increasingly common

Service Augmentation and Customer Satisfaction: An Analysis of Cell Phone Services in Base-of-the-Pyramid Markets

In this study, we investigate how IT-enabled service augmentation influences customer satisfaction for cell phone services in Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) markets. We conceptualize value added service and customer care as two components of service augmentation. In spite of the acknowledged competitive significance of digital services, the impact of service augmentation on customer satisfaction remains an unexplored area of research. Arguing for price- and relational- evaluations, we develop hypotheses for a substitution effect of value added services, and a complementary effect of customer care, on the relationship between core service and customer satisfaction. Specific to the BOP market context, we argue for a differentiated influence of service augmentation for different categories of providers. We empirically examine and find support for the hypothesized relationships using an archival data set from surveys of cell phone customers in seven South Asian BOP markets. We discuss the managerial implications and contributions of the findings

It\u27s What\u27s Inside that Counts: The Role of Social and Psychological Capital in Compensation for Offshore BPO Professionals

Multi-national corporations (MNCs) are increasingly using offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) to manage their primary and support functions and achieve their strategic objectives. Though India is regarded as the \u27undisputed leader in offshore services,\u27 the Indian BPO industry is plagued by high employee turnover and labor shortages. Indian BPO firms will need effective employee selection and retention strategies to sustain their growth. While compensation is an important mechanism to attract and retain employees, and competencies such as \u27practical intelligence\u27 are important to the performance of technical professionals, research has not yet examined how offshore BPO firms price these competencies and determine compensation for their professionals. This paper addresses the research gap by developing theory on the role of social and psychological capital in employee compensation, and tests the theory using data from 3,900 Indian BPO professionals over the 2006–2008 time period

Research Note

Human capital is becoming more critical as the global economy becomes more information intensive and service intensive. While IS researchers have studied some dimensions of human capital, the role of industry-specific human capital has remained understudied. The IT-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) industry provides an ideal setting to study returns to human capital, because jobs in this industry are standardized and many professionals in this new industry have come from other industries. We build on IS and Economics literature to theorize returns to human capital in the BPO industry, and we test the theory using data for over 2,500 BPO professionals engaged in call center work and other non-voice services (e.g., accounting, finance, HR, etc.) in India during the 2006-2008 time period. We find higher returns to industry-specific human capital than to firm-specific and general human capital. We also find that junior-level professionals, whose jobs are relatively more standardized, have higher returns to industry-specific human capital than senior-level professionals. We discuss implications for further research and practice in the global economy where inter-industry transfers and migration of skills are becoming increasingly common