Lior Fink

Exploring the perceived business value of the flexibility enabled by information technology infrastructure

We developed a multidimensional definition of IT infrastructure (ITI) and applied it in exploring the perceived strategic payoffs of ITI-enabled flexibility. We began by developing a typology of theoretical approaches that can be used to organize the literature and then developed a multidimensional model by conceptualizing how flexibility can be enabled through technical, human, and process elements of ITI and how these are interrelated. We used a resource-based view of the firm and a dynamic capabilities perspective to account for competitive impacts of the flexibility. Finally, we hypothesized on the moderating effects of organizational size and reporting level of the top IT executive. Data collected from 293 IT managers showed that the range of managerial ITI capabilities, which were positively affected by all areas of IT personnel knowledge and skills, was responsible for the competitive impacts of the ITI-enabled flexibility. Multigroup analyses showed that large organizational size or reporting to the CEO reduced the positive effects of the range of managerial ITI capabilities on competitive impacts.

How do IT capabilities create strategic value? Toward greater integration of insights from reductionistic and holistic approaches

After more than two decades of intensive research, researchers are still struggling to explain the strategic value of information technology (IT) capabilities. The current study suggests that sufficient advancement has not been made in this area of research because of the gap between the richness of theoretical formulations and the minimalism of the reductionistic approach taken to test them. While theoretical formulations describe complex relationships between IT capabilities and competitive advantage, reductionistic explanations rely on models that represent the integration of simple relationships. This area of research can, therefore, benefit from the wider adoption of a holistic approach that attributes competitive advantage to profiles of IT capabilities. This study draws on the resource-based view and configurational theory to develop two reductionistic (direct and mediation) and two holistic (gestalt and profile-deviation) models of IT strategic value. The four models are tested with data collected from IT managers. The empirical analysis illustrates the insights that can be gained by drawing on the relative strengths of reductionistic and holistic explanations of IT strategic value.

Information technology outsourcing through a configurational lens

This paper explores the value of a configurational approach to IT outsourcing by developing a framework for IT outsourcing effectiveness. Taking a process view of outsourcing and drawing on the relational view of the firm, the framework identifies four high-level dimensions that correspond to an organizations resource position in four key areas: organizational IT value position, organizational IT asset position, relational asset position, and relational capability position. A novel structured method is used to identify the congruent outsourcing configurations within the range of possible outsourcing configurations based on the interdependencies among the four dimensions. Three congruent outsourcing configurations, designated asset dependence, relational dependence, and independence, emerge from this analysis. Drawing on the assumptions of configurational theory about organizational change and taking a dynamic perspective, the framework is extended to describe how organizations transition between outsourcing configurations over time. This paper demonstrates how a configurational approach can address three potential problems of the outsourcing literature and advance outsourcing research.

Coordination, Learning, and Innovation: The Organizational Roles of e-collaboration and their Impacts

This article develops an organizational view of the roles and impacts of e-collaboration. Drawing upon the dynamic capabilities perspective, e-collaboration is conceptualized as a change-oriented capability that enables a firm to identify, integrate, and apply its knowledge assets to meet competitive demands. Therefore, e-collaboration potentially has three organizational roles—coordination, learning, and innovation—that are associated with either efficiency impacts or competitive impacts. The main argument of this article is that firms in less dynamic business environments need e-collaboration for operational purposes, emphasizing the coordination role, whereas firms in high-velocity business environments need e-collaboration for strategic purposes, emphasizing the learning and innovation roles. An analysis of the way in which business environment characteristics interact with media characteristics serves to demonstrate the importance of strategic characteristics—in addition to media and task characteristics—in determining the success of e-collaboration.

Business intelligence and organizational learning

This study develops and tests a research model of BI value creation.The model incorporates both general-IT and specific-BI value creation mechanisms.We initially assess the model with qualitative data collected in three organizations.We then test the hypotheses with cross-sectional data collected from managers.The findings demonstrate the value creation processes unique to BI resources. With the aim of bridging the gap between well-established research on information technology (IT) value creation and the emergent study of business intelligence (BI), this study develops and tests a model of BI value creation that is firmly anchored in both streams of research. The analysis draws on the resource-based view and on conceptualizations of organizational learning to hypothesize about the paths by which BI assets and BI capabilities create business value. The research model is first assessed in an exploratory analysis of data collected through interviews in three firms and then tested in a confirmatory analysis of data collected through a survey.

Ex post adaptations and hybrid contracts in software development services

We follow the recent literature on ex post adaptations in procurement and argue that highly volatile specifications result in multiple variations of fixed price (FP) and time and materials (T&M) contracts. Specifically, placing a cap on specification change in FP contracts prevents specification volatility, similar to the way that placing a cap on the price in T&M contracts prevents price escalation. We argue that these hybrid mechanisms are particularly important in software development contracting, a new critical business capability involving frequent and costly ex post adaptations to specification change. The level of completeness in these contractual archetypes is hypothesized to be determined by contracting costs and benefits, where costs are related to project uncertainty and benefits are related to the likelihood of vendor opportunism. We test this hypothesis with a unique data set of 270 software development contracts entered into by a leading international bank. The analysis confirms the existence of multiple hybrid contracts that mitigate both price escalation and specification volatility. It also shows that contracting costs and benefits explain more variance in contract choice when these hybrids are included, uncovering the detailed mechanisms used to curb opportunism when the vendor is less familiar to the client.

Critical Success Factors for Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems: Literature Review and Prescriptive Analysis

Adoption of electronic health record systems in healthcare has been relatively slow. This article proposes critical success factors for electronic health record adoption based on a comprehensive literature review and prescriptive analysis. The proposed 26 critical success factors for electronic health records are of value to both practice and research: practitioners are offered guidance with regard to managing electronic health record implementations toward adoption success, while researchers are offered a basis for further research about electronic health record implementation and adoption.

Taking the high road to web services implementation: an exploratory investigation of the organizational impacts

The increasing adoption of Web services is one of the most important technological trends in contemporary business organizations. This trend is motivated by claims about the ability of Web services to facilitate information technology (IT) flexibility, improve information management, and even lead to a competitive advantage. However, as the move towards Web services is gaining momentum, research about their organizational consequences remains mostly conceptual. This exploratory study empirically investigates whether the implementation of Web services applications is associated with these technological, informational, and strategic impacts. A field study approach is employed to collect cross-sectional data from 293 IT managers in Israel. Data analysis generally supports the research hypotheses, showing that the implementation of Web services applications positively affects the flexibility of IT infrastructure resources and information flexibility. The results also show that a specific implementation -- an Enterprise Information Portal -- also has positive effects on the flexibility of IT infrastructure capabilities, information quality, and IT-based competitive advantage. Finally, the results demonstrate the magnitude of the organizational impacts of Web services applications by comparing them to those of non-Web ERP systems. The implications of the findings for practice and research are discussed

Why project size matters for contract choice in software development outsourcing

The contractual mechanism of software development outsourcing, typically either fixed-price (FP) or time-and-materials (T&M), determines the nature of incentives, risk sharing, and coordination between client and vendor. While software engineering considers project size as crucial for project planning and success, neither economic nor organizational theory considers size per se among the determinants of contract choice. In this paper, we address the gap between the centrality of project size in the software engineering literature and the attention it receives in software contracting research by modeling and testing the association between project size and contract choice. Existing empirical evidence indicates that FP contracts are appropriate for small development efforts whereas T&M contracts are suitable for larger projects, based on the reasoning that cost and schedule are difficult to estimate in larger projects. This prediction that size is directly associated with contract choice is the basis upon which two models are developed. The first model draws on the contracting efficiency approach to hypothesize that the effect of project size on contract choice is mediated by project detail. The second model draws on the contingency approach to software development risk management to hypothesize that the effect of project size on contract choice is moderated by project detail and vendor familiarity. We test these models using a large portfolio of software development contracts entered into by a leading European bank, and the results confirm that both mediation and moderation are at play.

The Effect of Organizational Factors on the Business Value of IT: Universalistic, Contingency, and Configurational Predictions

The authors seek to expand the scope of theoretical approaches and organizational factors that are used in concert to examine the effect of organizational factors on IT business value in the present study. They explore the relationships among IT infrastructure capability, a set of five organizational factors, and IT business value using three dominant approaches in organizational research: the universalistic, contingency, and configurational approaches. The ensuing predictions are empirically tested through interviews with senior executives in 57 organizations.