Adopting New Software: Drivers of Voluntary Adoption in the same Product Category

Information systems use research has investigated post-adoption issues as a means for identifying the factors that are relevant for long term IS success. Our objective in this study is to investigate voluntary adoption decisions of new software in an organizational setting. We study how attributes of prior use, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness affect knowledge transferability and adoption intention of new software in the same primary base domain. Out study was based in the context of changeover of a course management system at a small Southern University. Data was collected from 81 faculty members about their intention to adopt the new CMS. Results indicate that in the context of voluntary adoption of new software in the same primary base domain, habit and knowledge transferability are positively associated with adoption intention while frequency of feature use is negatively associated

Firm Performance Impacts of Digitally Enabled Supply Chain Integration Capabilities

Best practice exemplars suggest that digital platforms play a critical role in managing supply chain activities and partnerships that generate performance gains for firms. However, there is limited academic investigation on how and why information technology can create performance gains for firms in a supply chain management (SCM) context. Grant’s (1996) theoretical notion of higher-order capabilities and a hierarchy of capabilities has been used in recent information systems research by Barua et al. (2004), Sambamurthy et al. (2003), and Mithas et al. (2004) to reframe the conversation from the direct performance impacts of IT resources and investments to how and why IT shapes higher-order process capabilities that create performance gains for firms. We draw on the emerging IT-enabled organizational capabilities perspective to suggest that firms that develop IT infrastructure integration for SCM and leverage it to create a higher-order supply chain integration capability generate significant and sustainable performance gains. A research model is developed to investigate the hierarchy of IT-related capabilities and their impact on firm performance. Data were collected from 110 supply chain and logistics managers in manufacturing and retail organizations. Our results suggest that integrated IT infrastructures enable firms to develop the higher-order capability of supply chain process integration. This capability enables firms to unbundle information flows from physical flows, and to share information with their supply chain partners to create information-based approaches for superior demand planning, for the staging and movement of physical products, and for streamlining voluminous and complex financial work processes. Furthermore, IT-enabled supply chain integration capability results in significant and sustained firm performance gains, especially in operational excellence and revenue growth. Managerial initiatives should be directed at developing an integrated IT infrastructure and leveraging it to create process capabilities for the integration of resource flows between a firm and its supply chain partners

Building Social Capital With It And Collaboration In Supply Chains: An Empirical Investigation

The importance of managing the extended enterprise is a recurrent theme, and many consider supply chains to be the next frontier of opportunities to improve profitability and competitive advantage for organizations. Building on prior work that has identified the value creation capabilities of integrated digital platforms and relational conditions, the paper draws upon social capital theory to develop an organizing framework for developing supply chain integration capabilities. We assert that both IT and relational capabilities constitute the social capital available to firms in the supply network and draw upon Nahapiet and Ghosal’s (1998) work to identify the specific facets structural, relational and cognitive social capital that are relevant in the context of supply chain integration. This framework enables us to evaluate structural relational and cognitive social capital as a platform for managing collective action and as a source of creating and sharing knowledge. A research model is developed and empirically validated that investigates the impact of different facets of social capital on supply chain integration, and subsequently supply chain integration on firm performance. Data from 110 manufacturing and retail firms was used to test the model to provide empirical support for the proposed research model