Systemic capabilities: the source of IT business value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop, and explicate the significance of the need for a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value. Design/methodology/approach – Embracing a systems perspective, this paper examines the interrelationship between IT and other organisational factors at the organisational level and its impact on the business value of IT. As a result, a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value is developed. An example of enhancing IT business value through developing systemic capabilities is then used to test and demonstrate the value of this framework. Findings – The findings suggest that IT business value would be significantly enhanced when systemic capabilities are generated from the synergistic interrelations among IT and other organisational factors at the systems level, while the system’s human agents play a critical role in developing systemic capabilities by purposely configuring and reconfiguring organisational factors. Practical implications – The conceptual framework advanced provides the means to recognise the significance of the need for understanding IT business value systemically and dynamically. It encourages an organisation to focus on developing systemic capabilities by ensuring that IT and other organisational factors work together as a synergistic whole, better managing the role its human agents play in shaping the systems interrelations, and developing and redeveloping systemic capabilities by configuring its subsystems purposely with the changing business environment. Originality/value – This paper reveals the nature of systemic capabilities underpinned by a systems perspective. The resultant systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value can help us move away from pairwise resource complementarity to focusing on the whole system and its interrelations while responding to the changing business environment. It is hoped that the framework can help organisations delineate important IT investment considerations and the priorities that they must adopt to create superior IT business value

The link between information processing capability and competitive advantage mediated through decision-making effectiveness

While research underpinned by the resource-based view (RBV) appears to suggest that IT-enabled capabilities are positively linked to competitive advantage, such a link is often seen as a black box as the processes through which competitive advantage can be gained appears unclear. In particular, research appears to suggest that information processing capability is linked to decision-making effectiveness and competitive advantage; however little research appears to examine the interrelationship among them. This study, drawing on the RBV, develops a mediation model to examine the link between competitive advantage and the key tenets of value, rarity, inimitability and non-substitutability of information processing capability in the context of business analytics; and whether this link is mediated through decision-making effectiveness. Based on data collected from 633 UK companies, this study shows that there is a positive link between the value, rarity and inimitability characteristics of information processing capability and competitive advantage, which is partially mediated by decision-making effectiveness. The findings contribute to the theoretical development of the RBV by developing a mediation model that looks inside the black box. They also contribute to managers’ knowledge and understanding of the mechanism through which the strategic value of information processing capability can be maximized

Towards an Understanding of Remote Work Exhaustion: A Study on the Effects of Individuals’ Big Five Personality Traits

At a time when many organizations have adopted, or are considering adopting, fully remote, hybrid, or partially remote working modalities, this study explores links between individuals’ (Big Five) personality traits and their likelihood of experiencing remote work exhaustion. Hypothetical associations are developed and then tested using survey data collected from 642 participants in the United States working in different industries. Results show that while neuroticism predicts remote work exhaustion, agreeableness and conscientiousness act as protective personality traits. This article offers several research implications and actionable, practical insights

Understanding the influential and mediating role of cultural enablers of AI integration to supply chain

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been claimed to offer transformational power across industries and sectors. To date, research has largely focused on the technical characteristics of AI and its influence on organisational capabilities. Despite the hype surrounding AI, there is a scarcity of rigorous research that examines the organisational and behavioural factors that foster AI integration in supply chains is lacking. This quantitative study addresses this gap in knowledge by developing a research hypothesis that examines the relationships between supply chain culture and AI. We extend the generalisability of culture to provide novel insights about AI-driven supply chains that have not been reported in previous studies. The findings demonstrate the influential role that cultural enablers have on the successful integration of AI technologies in supply chains, which has implications for operations and supply chain management

Dissemination and communication of lessons learned for a project-based business with the application of information technology: a case study with Siemens

With the recent development on a knowledge-based economy and project-based work, organizations gather and store their lessons and knowledge gained from projects to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ in future projects. To disseminate knowledge and experience at the group and organization levels, they further seek to develop a procedure to support project-based learning. This study conducts an in-depth case study in Siemens to investigate the perception of the individuals on barriers and enablers of implementing lessons learned. It also provides practical recommendations on how to enhance the dissemination of knowledge throughout the organization. The results of this study show that the retrieval of the information is a major barrier to lessons learned. To encourage more informal learning, organizations need to adopt various information communication systems and appropriate organizational culture and structure