Pankaj Setia

Leveraging digital technologies: how information quality leads to localized capabilities and customer service performance

With the growing recognition of the customers role in service creation and delivery, there is an increased impetus on building customer-centric organizations. Digital technologies play a key role in such organizations. Prior research studying digital business strategies has largely focused on building production-side competencies and there has been little focus on customer-side digital business strategies to leverage these technologies. We propose a theory to understand the effectiveness of a customer-side digital business strategy focused on localized dynamics--here, a firms customer service units (CSUs). Specifically, we use a capabilities perspective to propose digital design as an antecedent to two customer service capabilities--namely, customer orientation capability and customer response capability--across a firms CSUs. These two capabilities will help a firm to locally sense and respond to customer needs, respectively. Information quality from the digital design of the CSU is proposed as the antecedent to the two capabilities. Proposed capability-building dynamics are tested using data collected from multiple respondents across 170 branches of a large bank. Findings suggest that the impacts of information quality in capability-building are contingent on the local process characteristics. We offer implications for a firms customer-side digital business strategy and present new areas for future examination of such strategies.

Realizing business value of agile IT applications: antecedents in the supply chain networks

This research develops a framework for organizational value creation from agile IT applications. Based on the four themes in the business value research—business process perspective, complementarities, application level of analysis, and extent of use—three antecedents (organizational fit, process assimilation, and network adoption) are identified as pre-requisites for realizing the value of agile supply chain applications. Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems are used as examples, and two case studies for their implementation in the electronics and consumer goods industry are reported to support the propositions. The theories of diffusion of innovation, complementarities, network externalities, and technology structuration are applied to develop the propositions for fit, assimilation, and network effects. Information sharing and industry clockspeed are identified as the moderating factors in the proposed model. The framework has both managerial and research relevance. The research guides managers regarding ways to more fully realize the value of agile applications and forms a basis for future research on the business value of IT applications.

Supply chain information technologies and organisational initiatives: complementary versus independent effects on agility and firm performance

This research investigates the roles of supply chain information technologies (SCIT) and supply chain organisational initiatives (SCOI) in engendering agility and business performance in manufacturing firms. We examine two competing models, both of which incorporate agility as a mediator between the use of SCIT or SCOI and firm performance; the models differ in how the impacts of SCIT and SCOI are manifest. In one model, SCIT and SCOI are hypothesised to have separate effects on agility, which then impacts firm performance; in the second model, complementarities, or the interaction of SCIT and SCOI, impacts agility directly. Structural equation modelling results show that agility is full mediator, related to firm performance in both models. Further, the model with complementary interactions fits better. These results have implications for how manufacturing firms can position their investments in SCIT and SCOI to enhance agility and overall performance.

How Peripheral Developers Contribute to Open-Source Software Development

Open-source software development is the next stage in the evolution of product development, particularly software products. Compared with the prevailing proprietary approaches, open-source software products are developed by co-opting external developers and prospective users. Although a core group of developers might still play a key role in the initial design and development, a notable aspect of the open-source software paradigm is the role of peripheral developers in the enhancement and popularization of the product. Peripheral developers are not formal members of the core development team. They voluntarily contribute their time and creative talent in improving the quality of the product or in popularizing the product through word-of-mouth advocacy. As volunteers, they are not subject to the traditional hierarchical controls, nor are they contractually obligated. Peripheral developers represent a novel and unique aspect of open-source software development, and there is a greater interest in tapping their potential. However, there has been limited evidence about how and when their participation has beneficial impacts. We examine how peripheral developers contribute to product quality and diffusion by utilizing longitudinal data on 147 open-source software products. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis indicates that peripheral developers make significant contributions to product quality and diffusion, especially on projects that are in the more mature stages of product development.

The Effects of the Assimilation and Use of IT Applications on Financial Performance in Healthcare Organizations

Special Issue Pankaj Setia University of Arkansas psetia@uark.edu Monika Setia Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School monika.setia@duke-nus.edu.sg Ranjani Krishnan Michigan State University krishnan@bus.msu.edu Vallabh Sambamurthy Michigan State University sambamurthy@bus.msu.edu Volume 12, Special Issue, pp. 274-298, March 2011 The Effects of the Assimilation and Use of IT Applications on Financial Performance in Healthcare Organizations This research examines the impacts of the assimilation and use of IT on the financial performance of hospitals. We identify two dimensions of IT assimilation and use. They are the IT applications architecture spread, which is the adoption of a broad array of IT solutions, and IT applications architecture longevity, which is the length of experience with use of specific IT solutions. We examine the extent to which these dimensions of assimilation within the business and clinical work processes impact hospital performance. Compared with the effects of IT applications architecture spread, we find that the IT applications architecture longevity has a more significant effect on financial performance. In addition, the effects of assimilation manifest differently across the business and clinical process domains. Our results enhance understanding about the manner in which the assimilation and use of IT contributes to the financial performance of hospitals.

Business value of partner’s IT intensity: value co-creation and appropriation between customers and suppliers

There is a rapid increase in the use of enterprise technologies, such as enterprise portals, CRM, RFIDs, and partner interface systems. Often defined as Enterprise 2.0 technologies, social communication technologies, such as blogs and wikis are further increasing the range of ITs used by firms. Greater use of these Enterprise 2.0 technologies is changing the ways organizations transact with partners, as IT systems become predominant means to communicate, coordinate, analyse, conceptualize, and respond. As these technologies increase the information content of work, IT intensity of firms is becoming an increasingly important asset for doing business. To leverage enterprise technologies, firms are increasing IT intensity by making greater investments in more modular, user-friendly, integrated, and customized ITs. Greater IT intensity changes how a firm transacts business and inter-organizational relationships. However, the effects of increased IT intensity on inter-organizational relationships are not clear. In this study, we address this gap and assess how a firm’s IT intensity influence inter-organizational value. Using the data from customer-supplier dyads, we examine partner-related value creation, co-creation, and appropriation of value between firms within customer-supplier relationships. Using the Compustat database as our source of financial information from publicly-traded firms, we identify 5868 unique dyadic pairs of customer-supplier over the period 1991 to 2005 and hypotheses are tested using a sample of 15,028 customer-supplier dyad-years. IT spending for each firm is based on data available from InformationWeek magazine. Our results indicate that a partner’s IT usage co-creates value for both partners. We show a strong positive relation between customer and supplier IT spending intensity and corresponding profitability— measured as the firm’s excess gross profit relative to industry levels — for both customer and supplier firms as well as the combined dyad. Also, contrary to views that larger customers exploit smaller suppliers, our study finds that an increased IT intensity enhances the probability of value being generated for both the partners in a dyad.

Reverse Auctions to Innovate Procurement Processes: Effects of Bid Information Presentation Design on a Supplier's Bidding Outcome

Information technologies (ITs) are being used to innovate various procurement processes. This research study focuses on the supplier-side effects of IT design choices to conduct reverse auctions, which are increasingly used to procure a wide range of products and services. IT–enabled reverse auctions enhance supplier participation across geographical boundaries, leading to more efficient pricing. However, there are growing concerns about the adverse effects of IT–enabled reverse auctions on a suppliers performance. Supplier-side issues are gaining prominence in the reverse auction literature and are critical for the long-term success of reverse auctions. Therefore, we focus on suppliers’ bidding outcomes and assess how the design of an IT–enabled reverse auction facilitates the auction bidding outcomes of participating suppliers. Specifically, we examine the effects of two types of bid information presentation design—full price visibility and partial price visibility—on suppliers auction bidding outcomes, across auctions with different cost certainty and suppliers bargaining power vis-a-vis the buyer. The results of this study contribute new knowledge about the ways to use IT for creating effective auction designs and innovating procurement through auctions to enhance both the buyers and suppliers’ performance. We present the detailed theoretical contributions of our study and discuss the managerial implications for designers of reverse auctions.

The Individual Narrative of IS Project Success

Project success continues to be a concern for information systems practitioners and academics alike. Previous research has studied organizational attributes such as governance, knowledge, and individual attributes mainly focused on project leadership that can affect performance. This study makes an effort to shift the focus to IS professionals who are at the core of IS projects and explores how IS professionals individual narrative of IS project success develops. Using the attribution theoretical lens, the study proposes that the development of the narrative of IS project success is a process of casual attribution involving perception of justice, engagement and perception of project performance. Seventy-nine IS professionals from various organizations participated in a survey which measured the project performance for projects they completed in the recent past, their level engagement in those projects, and their perception of justice during those projects. Respondents represented a wide variety of industries such as retail, telecommunications, and food from both US and non-US project locations. Besides explaining the narrative of IS success, the study also reveals that this narrative has potential downstream effect on the well-being of the IS professional. The study is expected to enrich the IS project management literature by providing deeper understanding of the perception of professionals working in IS projects.