Douglas Edward Turner

Measuring the Flexibility of Information Technology Infrastructure: Exploratory Analysis of a Construct

Researchers and practitioners alike have taken note of the potential value of an organizations IT infrastructure. IT infrastructure expenditures account for over 58 percent of an organizations IT budget and the percentage is growing at 11 percent a year. Some even have called IT infrastructure the new competitive weapon and see it as being crucial in developing a sustained competitive advantage. Unique characteristics of an IT infrastructure determine the value of that infrastructure to an organization. One characteristic, IT infrastructure flexibility, has captured the attention of researchers and practitioners. In fact, in most recent surveys featuring issues of most importance to IT executives, the development of a flexible and responsive IT infrastructure and related topics are always at or near the top of the responses. Although the importance of IT infrastructure flexibility has been established, the development of a valid, reliable instrument to measure this construct has not been reported in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to better define the IT infrastructure flexibility construct and to develop a valid, reliable measurement instrument for this construct. In addition to the definition and operationalization of the IT infrastructure flexibility construct, this study explores the instruments predictive validity with possible antecedent and consequent variables.Researchers and practitioners alike have taken note of the potential value of an organizations IT infrastructure. IT infrastructure expenditures account for over 58 percent of an organizations IT budget and the percentage is growing at 11 percent a year. Some even have called IT infrastructure the new competitive weapon and see it as being crucial in developing a sustained competitive advantage. Unique characteristics of an IT infrastructure determine the value of that infrastructure to an organization. One characteristic, IT infrastructure flexibility, has captured the attention of researchers and practitioners. In fact, in most recent surveys featuring issues of most importance to IT executives, the development of a flexible and responsive IT infrastructure and related topics are always at or near the top of the responses. Although the importance of IT infrastructure flexibility has been established, the development of a valid, reliable instrument to measure this construct has not been reported in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to better define the IT infrastructure flexibility construct and to develop a valid, reliable measurement instrument for this construct. In addition to the definition and operationalization of the IT infrastructure flexibility construct, this study explores the instruments predictive validity with possible antecedent and consequent variables.

An Exploratory Analysis of the Value of the Skills of IT Personnel: Their Relationship to IS Infrastructure and Competitive Advantage

Determining and assessing the requisite skills of information technology (IT) personnel have become critical as the value of IT has risen in modern organizations. In addition to technical skills traditionally expected of IT personnel, softer skills like managerial, business, and interpersonal skills have been increasingly cited in previous studies as mandatory for these employees. This paper uses a typology of IT personnel skills—technology management skills, business functional skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills—and investigates their relationships to two information systems (IS) success variables, IS infrastructure flexibility and the competitive advantage provided by IS. The study investigates these relationships using the perceptions of chief information officers (CIOs) from mostly Fortune 2000 companies. The contributions of this study are: IT personnel skills do affect IS success, technical skills are viewed as the most important skill set in affecting IS infrastructure flexibility and competitive advantage, and modularity is viewed as more valuable to competitive advantage than integration. Several explanations are offered for the lack of positive relationships between the softer IT personnel skills and the dimensions of IS success used in this study.

An exploratory examination of the relationship between flexible IT infrastructure and competitive advantage

Abstract Information technology (IT) professionals have discussed the potential value of an organization’s IT infrastructure. Unique characteristics of this infrastructure determine its value to the organization. One characteristic, flexibility, has captured the attention of managers in organizations. A flexible IT infrastructure has even been touted by some as the next competitive weapon. Despite this suggestion, empirical evidence has been sparse. The purpose of this paper is to offer an exploratory analysis into the relationship between flexible IT infrastructure and competitive advantage. A canonical correlation analysis is used to explore this relationship. The findings support the view that there is a positive relationship between flexible IT infrastructure and competitive advantage.

User experience, satisfaction, and continual usage intention of IT

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a research model that investigates the effects of user experience with information technology (IT) on user satisfaction with and continual usage intention of the technology. The research model uses the concept of cognitive absorption (CA) to conceptualize the optimal holistic experience that users feel when using IT. A set of hypotheses are proposed regarding the direct and indirect effects of CA on user satisfaction through the perceived utilitarian and hedonic performance and expectation disconfirmation of IT. An online survey was conducted to test the model and its associated hypotheses. The results provided support for the hypothesized effects of CA and indicated its importance for the formation of post-adoption satisfaction and continuance intention with IT.

The Impact of IT Personnel Skills on IS Infrastructure and Competitive IS

The knowledge and skills of information technology IT personnel have become of critical importance as the strategic value of IT in modern organizations has become apparent. In addition to technical skills traditionally expected of IT personnel, organizational, functional, and managerial skills have been increasingly cited as mandatory for these employees. This paper used a well-accepted typology of IT personnel knowledge and skills, and investigated its relationship to desirable technological traits in organizations and to technological variables that have been closely aligned to competitive advantage in organizations. This exploratory examination used the statistical technique of canonical correlation analysis to investigate the relationship between IT personnel knowledge and skills and the flexibility of information systems IS infrastructure. Additionally, the same technique was used to test the relationship between the knowledge and skills of these personnel and measures of IT contribution to competitive advantage. In both cases, the relationships were significant and positive. Implications of these findings and a call for further research into the strategic value of IT personnel knowledge and skills are discussed.

Technological Factors Relevant to Continuity on ERP for E-Business Platform: Integration, Modularity, and Flexibility

ABSTRACT Most enterprise systems (ES) solutions have evolved with the technological factors of flexibility, modularity and integration embedded to fit both business and information technology (IT) requirements for many organizations. Recently, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and business-to-business electronic business (e-business) have received much attention within both the practitioner and academic communities, especially concerning the technological factors. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework that could be used to investigate a possible relationship between ERP and other ES systems with the factors of flexibility, integration and modularity for e-business. In the 1990s, ERP systems were introduced to fulfill some of the technological requirements across functional areas within a corporate boundary. Moreover, with the exponential growth of Internet technology and the emergence of e-business, the focus of ERP systems has changed from an integrated functional focus within an organization to one reaching outside the organization throughout the value chain system. It is expected that an ERP system can facilitate an e-business effort of an organization. In order to serve as a platform for e-business, an ERP system must also be able to be extended to support a range of external constituents for a firm. The process must involve an investigation of ERP technological factors along with any other emerging ES solution of the firm. This study investigates ERP and other ES systems for e-business with a focus on the technological factors of flexibility, integration, and modularity.

A survey of innovative technology processes in manufacturing

The focus of this investigation is to distinguish the difference between technologies and processes found in manufacturing environments, where the magnitude and order of these associations may provide insight into the degree that each may require from a “push‐pull” perspective. Each organization is divided into two differing parameters of communication: internal and external. The results suggest that advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and advanced manufacturing processes (AMPs) are positively related, while a technology such as EDI is not equally distributed between the concepts of internal and external communications. The predominant research design for analyzing the impact of a new technology on an organization has been the case study design, which does not provide a consistent basis for comparing and generalizing results. This study employs the survey design and provides a better insight into the effects of AMTs and AMPs.