Investigating the Complexity of Organizational Digitization and Firm Performance: A Set-Theoretic Configurational Approach

This study investigates the causal complexity and diversity of the relationship between organizational digitization and firm performance. Digitization – defined as the penetration of IT in the organization – is a complex organizational phenomenon in that it involves changes in organizational strategy, business processes, organizational knowledge and eventually the whole socio-technical organizational system, thus influencing organizational performance. We adopt a holistic configuration theory lens and a set-theoretic method, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explain how such interdependent relationships among digitization and organizational strategic elements result in high firm performance. We apply the set-theoretic method to a longitudinal field data set collected from 1816 Canadian firms. We found multiple equifinal configurations that result in high performance. By comparing the similarities and differences within and between the configurations, we could explain the multifaceted roles that digitization plays in achieving high performance together with organizational strategies

Standards and Alliances in Non-Standardized Software Industries

Standards and compatibility issues play a significant role in the software industry. Often, there are no uniform industry wide standards in a standards immature market. To overcome the lack of standards, firms in this market aim to establish alliances. In this work, we adopt a new research framework called network theory drawn from sociology research to represent the complexity of this market. This improves upon traditional microeconomic perspectives by addressing indirect relationships and their causal effects. We also introduce a concept called socio technical capital as substitute measure for a firm’s clout or position among other firms. Using this approach we are able relate alliance formation by business application software firms and compatibility issues. The results of an ongoing study are presented to substantiate this approach

The Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity in the Assimilation of Enterprise Information Systems

We attempt to understand how external institutional forces affecting ERP assimilation within organizations need not impact all organizations uniformly but instead can be moderated by the enterprises\u27knowledge-based capabilities. Building on an institutional model of ERP assimilation, we investigate the role of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in ERP assimilation. Specifically we examine how the ACAP of an organization can enhance or retard the effect of institutional forces on the degree of ERP assimilation. Following a recent framework we operationalize ACAP as potential ACAP (PACAP) and realized ACAP (RACAP) and find that both dimensions affect ERP assimilation in different ways. While both, PACAP and RACAP, have a direct positive impact on assimilation, PACAP moderates the impact of mimetic forces on assimilation whereas RACAP moderates the effect of normative pressures. While we find overall a strong support for our hypothesized model, interestingly, we also find that RACAP negatively moderates the effect of mimetic pressures on assimilation. We discuss the contributions of this study to a better understanding of IT assimilation processes

IMPLEMENTATION KNOWLEDGE AND THE ASSIMILATION OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Based on the organizational learning perspective, we present an empirical model to explain the assimilation of complex enterprise systems. We conceptualize systems implementation capability of organizations in terms of two types of knowledge – artifactual knowledge and inter-unit coordination knowledge. We propose that these knowledge dimensions are directly related to the degree of assimilation of enterprise systems. Further, considering that assimilation of IT innovations is steeped in the institutional environment, we also consider the moderating effects of mimetic and normative institutional pressures on the relationship between implementation knowledge and the degree of assimilation. Analysis of survey responses from ERP implementations in seventy-seven organizations reveals support for our main hypotheses that both the implementation knowledge dimensions directly affect assimilation. We also confirm that while mimetic institutional pressures positively moderate the impact of ERP-specific artifactual knowledge on assimilation, normative influences positively moderate the effect of ERP-specific coordination knowledge on assimilation. However, surprisingly mimetic pressures negatively moderate the impact of ERP-specific coordination knowledge on assimilation. The negative moderation suggests that organizations with greater interunit coordination knowledge are more ‘mindful’ towards ERP assimilation and therefore mimetic pressures play a lesser role in affecting assimilation levels. Our findings offer interesting implications for theory and practice

ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF TRUST IN SUPPLY CHAIN: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Trust has been a central construct in studies of inter-firm relationships. Many operational, organizational, social, and cultural factors have been identified to have significant impact on inter-firm trust. In this study, we investigate the role of information technology in generating inter-firm trust and the consequences of this trust in the context of supply networks. Using structural equation modeling techniques, our data show that the level of information systems integration among the partner firms in a supply network significantly impacts the trust among the firms which, together with the integrated information systems, explains more than half of the variances in information sharing and business process coupling in the network. Given the substantial evidence in the literature on the impact of information sharing and process coupling on supply chain performance, we conclude that information systems integration among the partners is critical to supply network performance. We also confirm that information systems flexibility and use of standards in information systems significantly contribute to the level of systems integration among the partners in supply networks as suggested in prior studies. Our findings extend the current literature on inter-firm trust by considering the role of information technology in addition to other important factors already identified

Does social capital arise from Enterprise or Public social media use? A model of social media antecedents and consequences

Research on the antecedents of SM and its consequences for organizations is silent on the distinctions between Enterprise SM (ESM) and Public SM (PSM) applications, as also is unclear whether PSM usage lowers or improves organizational outcomes. Our research model addresses these gaps. One, since SM usage is serendipitous and unstructured we propose that an organization’s strategic orientation is highly salient in affecting social media use. Two, we theorize why each type of SM – ESM vis-à-vis PSM contributes distinctly to organizational social capital. Data was collected from the IT industry, an ideal setting given its high clock-speed and information intensity. We find that PSM use contributes to all dimensions of social capital, over and above the contribution from ESM use. Further, as hypothesized, external orientation positively affects PSM use

On Technology Ecosystems: De-Jure Standards Setting by Firms

We study how social structure, strategic heterogeneity, and competition impact collaboration efforts among firms in a technological standard-setting organization. Our findings reveal that a higher level of social capital among firms in the standard committee leads to a quicker consensus over the current standard. However, more competition among committee firms and larger committees delays the time to consensus. Our study emphasizes that supporting open standard development and consensus-based decision making is a double-edged sword for SSOs. Our research has some implications for value-cocreation in open innovation alliances