Terence Saldanha

Organizational Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies: An Empirical Analysis

While Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, and social networks have been popular in the consumer space, there is significant variation in adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in business. Yet, little is known about why firms adopt Web 2.0 technologies. There is a paucity of empirical research examining the antecedents of the use of Web 2.0 technologies in organizations. Drawing on the Technological-Organizational-Environmental theoretical framework, our study presents and empirically tests a model of factors associated with organizational adoption of Web 2.0 technologies. We find that importance to open standards is positively associated with the propensity for adoption of Web 2.0 technologies. Further, larger organizations are found to have a higher propensity for adoption. Finally, industry knowledge intensity is found to be positively associated with a higher propensity for adoption. Our results suggest that open architectures, firm size, and industry knowledge intensity play pivotal roles in Web 2.0 technology adoption. The study sheds light on antecedents of organizational adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and can help researchers and practitioners build an understanding of what factors are likely to motivate firms to adopt Web 2.0 technologies.

Leveraging Customer Involvement for Fueling Innovation: The Role of Relational and Analytical Information Processing Capabilities

How do IT-enabled capabilities influence the ability of firms to leverage customer involvement to shape amount of innovation? This study argues and theorizes that effective processing and management of customer information flows requires that organizations possess what we call as relational information processing capability (RIPC) and analytical information processing capability (AIPC). Drawing on and extending the theories of absorptive capacity and complementarities in the context of innovation, we posit that RIPC and AIPC complement product-focused customer involvement and information-intensive customer involvement practices respectively to enhance the amount of firm innovation. To test our hypotheses, we collected archival data from more than 300 large U.S. manufacturing firms and map the relational and analytical information processing capabilities to specific IT applications. Consistent with our theorizing, we find that RIPC positively moderates the relationship between product-focused customer involvement and amount of firm innovation; and AIPC positively moderates the relationship between information-intensive customer involvement and amount of firm innovation. In further exploratory analysis, we find a positive three-way interaction between AIPC, RIPC, and product-focused customer involvement. Taken together, our results suggest that configurations of IT-enabled capabilities alone are not enough for innovation; instead firms benefit more when specific configurations of IT-enabled capabilities are leveraged in unison with specific types of customer involvement. The study contributes to theory and practice by shedding light on important complementarities between specific types of customer involvement (product-focused customer involvement and information-intensive customer involvement) and specific IT-enabled capabilities (relational information processing capability and analytical information processing capability).

Information Systems for Managing Energy and Carbon Emission Information: Empirical Analysis of Adoption Antecedents

Global organizations employ information systems (IS) to manage energy and carbon emission information. However, we know little about the factors associated with their adoption. Using primary data collected from a single organization, we first develop a simple conceptual framework for this class of information system comprising information technology (hardware and software), business processes, and work practices. Then, we conduct an exploratory empirical analysis into the extent to which global climate agreements and managerial practices are associated with their adoption. Our analysis suggests that managerial incentives and carbon reduction targets are strongly associated with the adoption of systems for managing energy and carbon emission information. We discuss the implications of our findings and suggest future research avenues.

Business Intelligence Capabilities and Effectiveness: An Integrative Model

Organizations may not be equally predisposed towards successful adoption and implementation of business intelligence (BI) initiatives and applications. A key to understanding the success or failure of BI within an organization, termed as BI Effectiveness, is the identification and assessment of BI Capabilities and their constituent dimensions. Using this theoretical foundation, we develop a conceptual framework that identifies four BI Capabilities, comprising of eleven dimensions, and offer three propositions that illustrate their effect on BI Effectiveness. To facilitate empirical research, we develop and cross-validate a questionnaire instrument to measure these new constructs, which can serve as a diagnostic tool through which organizations can assess the effectiveness of their BI initiatives. We thus provide a definitional and empirical context for assessing key BI Capabilities that directly impact an organizations effectiveness at BI implementation and use.

Business Intelligence Capabilities

Business intelligence (BI) is emerging as a critical area of expertise for firms’ value proposition. Firms are trying to leverage BI as an inherent capability to create value. Considering an organizational systems view, BI extends beyond a tool or artifact to include a number of capabilities. We draw on IT capabilities and prior research on BI to uncover potential capabilities that BI bestows to an organization. A three category BI capability classification is suggested: BI innovation infrastructure capability, BI process capability and BI integration capability. We discuss the attributes of these three BI capabilities to provide insights into how the capabilities help organizations. This taxonomy will help decision-makers take informed decisions on how to effectively implement BI within their organization to improve performance.

A Strategic Value Appropriation Path for Cloud Computing

Abstract Cloud-based information management is one of the leading competitive differentiation strategies for firms. With the increasing criticality of information management in value creation and process support, establishing an integrated capability with cloud computing is vital for organizational success in the changing landscape of business competition. These issues have received scant attention, however. We draw on the resource-based view, dynamic capability hierarchy concepts, and the perspective of operand and operant resources to suggest a cloud value appropriation model for firms. We argue that, to appropriate business value from cloud computing, the firm needs to effectively deploy cloud computing and leverage cloud operant resources as firm capabilities in a hierarchical fashion toward the development of cloud computing-based service models in order to reliably achieve the desired business outcomes. We propose a model encompassing the principles of infrastructure and cloud platform deployment, integration and service orientation, and alignment with business processes that explain the linkage from cloud computing to firm performance. We test this approach to value creation with a cloud computing implementation assessment model using a sample of 147 firms that have implemented cloud computing in India. Our analysis uncovers a strategic value appropriation path from cloud technological capability to firm performance via cloud integration capability, cloud service portfolio capability, and business flexibility. This research offers new insights regarding the underlying mechanisms for how cloud computing affects firm performance via cloud-enabled capabilities and the business functions that are supported by cloud capabilities.