Nicholas Roberts

Absorptive capacity and information systems research: review, synthesis, and directions for future research

Absorptive capacity is a firms ability to identify, assimilate, transform, and apply valuable external knowledge. It is considered an imperative for business success. Modern information technologies perform a critical role in the development and maintenance of a firms absorptive capacity. We provide an assessment of absorptive capacity in the information systems literature. IS scholars have used the absorptive capacity construct in diverse and often contradictory ways. Confusion surrounds how absorptive capacity should be conceptualized, its appropriate level of analysis, and how it can be measured. Our aim in reviewing this construct is to reduce such confusion by improving our understanding of absorptive capacity and guiding its effective use in IS research. We trace the evolution of the absorptive capacity construct in the broader organizational literature and pay special attention to its conceptualization, assumptions, and relationship to organizational learning. Following this, we investigate how absorptive capacity has been conceptualized, measured, and used in IS research. We also examine how absorptive capacity fits into distinct IS themes and facilitates understanding of various IS phenomena. Based on our analysis, we provide a framework through which IS researchers can more fully leverage the rich aspects of absorptive capacity when investigating the role of information technology in organizations.

Conceptualizing models using multidimensional constructs: a review and guidelines for their use

While information on multidimensional constructs and empirical methods has become more accessible, there remain substantial challenges to theorizing about their form and implications. There are at least two ostensible reasons for such difficulties. First is the issue of terminology; many different terms are currently used to represent the same structural concept, and there is no evidence of standardization taking place around a single set of terms. Second, many studies do not clearly explain the theoretical reasons for choosing the specific multidimensional form of their constructs. To address these deficiencies, we use concepts from the research methods literature, and illustrations from the information systems (IS) literature, to review definitions and issues related to conceptualizing and operationalizing structural models that include multidimensional constructs. Such advice is necessary if we are going to develop and test increasingly sophisticated theoretical models in IS research. We also offer guidelines about how to conceptualize specific forms of multidimensional constructs. By lending greater conceptual clarity to the literature, we believe that this paper provides a foundation for future research incorporating multidimensional constructs in empirical analysis.

Building and leveraging information in dynamic environments: The role of IT infrastructure flexibility as enabler of organizational responsiveness and competitive advantage

Understanding how IT contributes to a firms competitive advantage has long been of interest. While managers have made significant investments in IT, inflexible legacy systems hinder their ability to respond quickly to market opportunities. Our study examined how the flexibility of an organizations IT infrastructure enhanced information generation and dissemination and that this increased their ability to respond to rapidly changing environments. Our discussion of these information building and information leveraging effects was grounded in the resource-based view of the firm. We empirically tested our model using data collected from senior executives of 105 manufacturing and service firms. We found that IT infrastructure flexibility was positively related to information generation and dissemination. Moreover, information generation was significantly related to organizational responsiveness. Finally, organizational responsiveness was positively related to the firms competitive advantage. These results showed the importance of developing a flexible IT infrastructure that can be quickly adapted and reconfigured to meet information processing demands in dynamic environments.

Advancing operations management theory using exploratory structural equation modelling techniques

The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique has been touted as a useful tool for tightening links between theoretical and empirical operations management (OM) research. Despite SEMs increasing prominence in the field, leading scholars continue to call for a deeper infusion of theory into empirical OM research. To strengthen ties between theory and analysis in OM research, this study evaluates previous OM applications of SEM and identifies specific ways we can use SEM to advance operations management theory. Through judicious use of SEM techniques, we believe that OM researchers have the opportunity to confirm and extend existing theoretical frameworks. Further, we offer guidance on how to operationalise measurement models such that researchers accurately depict the causality of a construct. To demonstrate how to advance theory, we use an illustrative example of SEM in an OM context based upon data gathered from a survey of over 200 respondents.

Using Information Systems to Sense Opportunities for Innovation: Integrating Postadoptive Use Behaviors with the Dynamic Managerial Capability Perspective

Abstract Fast-paced environmental changes require that managers quickly sense opportunities for organizational innovation. Information systems (IS) that support business intelligence and analytics help managers access and analyze data from various sources, thereby providing insight into potential opportunities. Building on the dynamic managerial capability perspective, we investigate the extent to which two managerial IS use behaviors—routine use and innovative use—influence a manager’s volume and diversity of ideas for organizational innovation. We also examine the moderating role of three organization-level entrepreneurial orientation characteristics—autonomy, innovativeness, and risk taking. We test our research model with survey data collected from 248 managers. Our results show that routine IS use is not related to volume or diversity of ideas for organizational innovation. However, innovative IS use is positively related to idea volume and idea diversity. Furthermore, organizational autonomy and innovativeness positively moderate the aforementioned innovative use/idea relationships. Our study contributes to the literature by linking postadoptive IS use behaviors to managerial sensing ability, an important dynamic managerial capability. We also further the understanding of how organizational factors such as entrepreneurial orientation play a key role in determining whether, when, and how managers use IS to develop ideas for organizational innovation.

Firm valuation effects of the decision to adopt relationally governed business process outsourcing arrangements

Business process outsourcing (BPO) has recently grown in incidence and importance. However, academic research on this phenomenon is sparse. Further, studies on outsourcing have primarily used a transaction cost economics (TCE) lens, largely neglecting other key theoretical explanations of the outsourcing decision and performance. While TCE provides a useful framework, it underemphasises hybrid governance structures that reflect relationships that fall between markets and hierarchies. We examine the decision to adopt relationally governed BPO arrangements and the impact on firm value. We recognise ‘discriminatory alignment’ aspects of governance and argue that the nature of the process itself will influence the value that can be garnered through relational governance. Using secondary data on 298 BPO announcements, we test the proposed model and confirm that a higher level of relational governance adoption strongly enhances firm valuation. This positive valuation impact of relational governance adoption reaches an even higher level in situations of primary processes and processes that have had a presence in the outsourcing organisation. The results emphasise the importance of considering all processes for outsourcing, the critical consideration of relational governance and the importance of planning governance structures that are aligned with the nature and experience with the process being outsourced.

An examination of the role of military medical chief information officer.

Although research has described the roles, responsibilities, and skills of effective chief information officers (CIOs) in for-profit organizations, little is known regarding the traits and skills that characterize effective military medical CIOs. This study identifies skills a military medical CIO needs to act as a technology strategist who can successfully identify information technology (IT) innovations and convert those innovations into organizational health IT solutions. We assessed the level of necessary informational, decisional, and interpersonal skills in a cross-sectional survey of 48 military medical CIOs. We also compared military medical CIO characteristics to general CIO characteristics. Our results show that both decisional and interpersonal skills are strongly related to informational skills necessary to convert innovations into organizational IT solutions. Further, decisional skills are strongly related to a CIOs ability to act as a technology strategist. Our study provides implications for research and practice.

The Impact of Virtual Customer Community Interactivity on Organizational Innovation: An Absorptive Capacity Perspective

Research problem: Organizations are increasingly investing in virtual customer communities that reduce communication barriers between organizations and customers. However, little is known regarding how virtual customer communities might affect a firms learning and innovation activities. Research question: What effects do virtual customer communities have on the relationship between absorptive capacity and organizational innovation? Literature review: Research has shown that virtual customer communities promote knowledge creation and knowledge sharing by facilitating communication within a virtual customer community. We investigate the extent to which interactivity in virtual customer communities influences the relationship between a firms absorptive capacity (the ability to identify, assimilate, and apply external knowledge) and the extent to which a firm develops incremental and radical innovations. Methodology: We test this model with a quantitative survey-based research design that involves 102 firm-sponsored virtual customer communities. We use hierarchical regression techniques to test our hypotheses. Results: Absorptive capacity is positively related to incremental innovation and negatively related to radical innovation. Furthermore, virtual customer community interactivity moderates the relationship between absorptive capacity and incremental innovation. Conclusions: Virtual customer communities are transforming communication relationships between organizations and customers in ways that influence a firms learning and innovation activities. One limitation of our study is the use of a single respondent for our survey. We recommend that future research examine how virtual customer communities affect organization-customer communication channels.

Electronic medical record compliance and continuity in delivery of care: an empirical investigation in a combat environment

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are central to continuity in delivery of care in a combat environment. Yet, despite their benefits, technological advances, and legislation mandating their use, EMRs are not widely diffused in the U.S. military. Several contextual factors, such as armed conflict, multiple layers of bureaucracy, inconsistent rotation schedules, and competing goals, contribute to the complexity and difficulty of EMR implementation in a combat environment. This study applies a principal–agent perspective to understand barriers to EMR policy compliance in the U.S. military. Using a unique data set collected over a 105-week period, we investigate the implementation and effect of monitoring and sanctions on EMR compliance in combat support hospitals. Our results show that monitoring and sanctions positively impact the rate of EMR completion, yet they have no effect on the rate of EMRs started. Our results have implications for research and policy on EMR compliance and implementation in vertically integrated healthcare systems.

Virtual customer environment design and organizational innovation: An exploration–exploitation perspective

ABSTRACT Many firms are developing virtual customer environments (VCEs) that provide customers the opportunity to submit, discuss, and vote for new ideas. Some studies show that VCEs promote the development of incremental improvements in existing products and services (i.e., exploitative innovation). However, other studies find that customers working in VCEs will often suggest radical ideas for brand new products and services (i.e., exploratory innovation). Exploration and exploitation are often incompatible; thus, we address this paradox by investigating whether the design of a firm’s VCE architecture is related to the firm’s exploratory innovation activity and exploitative innovation activity. Using matched data collected from VCEs and managers, we show that two-way information exchange VCE tools facilitate exploratory innovation, and one-way information exchange VCE tools enhance exploitative innovation. We also find that absorptive capacity positively moderates the latter relationship. Our findings have implications for research and practice in VCEs, organizational innovation, and organizational learning.