Vallabh Sambamurthy

Shaping agility through digital options: reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms

Agility is vital to the innovation and competitive performance of firms in contemporary business environments. Firms are increasingly relying on information technologies, including process, knowledge, and communication technologies, to enhance their agility. The purpose of this paper is to broaden understanding about the strategic role of IT by examining the nomological network of influences through which IT impacts firm performance. By drawing upon recent thinking in the strategy, entrepreneurship, and IT management literatures, this paper uses a multitheoretic lens to argue that information technology investments and capabilities influence firm performance through three significant organizational capabilities (agility, digital options, and entrepreneurial alertness) and strategic processes (capability-building, entrepreneurial action, and coevolutionary adaptation). We also propose that these dynamic capabilities and strategic processes impact the ability of firms to launch many and varied competitive actions and that, in turn, these competitive actions are a significant antecedent of firm performance. Through our theorizing, we draw attention to a significant and reframed role of IT as a digital options generator in contemporary firms.

Arrangements for information technology governance: a theory of multiple contingencies

A key issue facing information systems researchers and practitioners has been the difficulty in IT governance arrangements refers to the patterns of authority for key IT activities in business firms, including IT infrastructure, IT use, and project management. During the last 20 years, three primary modes of IT governance have become prevalent: centralized, decentralized, and the federal mode. These modes vary in the extent to which corporate IS, divisional IS, and line management are vested with authority for the key IT activities. While a significant volume of research has examined the influence of contingency factors on the choice of a specific mode of IT governance, most of this research has examined the singular effects of the contingency factors. The assumption underlying these studies is as though the organizational contingencies act in isolation in influencing the mode of IT governance. However, in reality, business firms are subject to the pulls and pressures of multiple, rather than singular, contingency forces. Therefore, to acknowledge this reality, this study applies the theory of multiple contingencies to examine how contingency forces influence the mode of IT governance. The theory argues that contingency forces interact with each other by either amplifying, dampening, or overriding their mutual influences on the IT governance mode. Three scenarios of multiple, interacting contingencies are identified: reinforcing, conflicting, and dominating. Each of these scenarios of multiple contingencies is hypothesized to influence a particular mode of IT governance. Utilizing rich data from case studies of eight firms, empirical evidence is presented to support these hypotheses. Implications of the multiple contingencies theory for research and for practice are presented.

Sources of influence on beliefs about information technology use: an empirical study of knowledge workers

Individual beliefs about technology use have been shown to have a profound impact on subsequent behaviors toward information technology (IT). This research note builds upon and extends prior research examining factors that influence key individual beliefs about technology use. It is argued that individuals form beliefs about their use of information technologies within a broad milieu of influences emanating from the individual, institutional, and social contexts in which they interact with IT. We examine the simultaneous effects of these three sets of influences on beliefs about usefulness and ease of use in the context of a contemporary technology targeted at autonomous knowledge workers. Our findings suggest that beliefs about technology use can be influenced by top management commitment to new technology and the individual factors of personal innovativeness and self-efficacy. Surprisingly, social influences from multiple sources exhibited no significant effects. Theoretical and practical implications are offered.

Shaping up for e-commerce: institutional enablers of the organizational assimilation of web technologies

The global reach of the Web technological platform, along with the range of services that it supports, makes it a powerful business resource. However, realization of operational and strategic benefits is contingent on effective assimilation of this type III IS innovation. This paper draws upon institutional theory and the conceptual lens of structuring and metastructuring actions to explain the importance of three factors-top management championship, strategic investment rationale, and extent of coordination-in achieving higher levels of Web assimilation within an organization. Survey data are utilized to test a nomological network of relationships among these factors and the extent of organizational assimilation of Web technologies.

Research Report: The Evolving Relationship Between General and Specific Computer Self-Efficacy--An Empirical Assessment

The concept of computer self-efficacy (CSE) recently has been proposed as important to the study of individual behavior toward information technology. This paper extends current understanding about the concept of self-efficacy in the context of computer software. We describe how two broad types of computer self-efficacy beliefs, general self-efficacy and task-specific self-efficacy, are constructed across different computing tasks by suggesting that initial general CSE beliefs will strongly predict subsequentspecific CSE beliefs. The theorized causal relationships illustrate the malleability and development of CSE beliefs over time, within a training environment where individuals are progressively provided with greater opportunity for hands-on experience and practice with different software. Consistent with the findings of prior research, judgments of self-efficacy then serve as key antecedents of the perceived cognitive effort (ease of use) associated with technology usage. Further, we theorize that self-efficacy judgments in the task domain of computing are strongly influenced by the extent to which individuals believe that they are personally innovative with respect to information technology. Panel data were collected using a longitudinal research design within a training context where 186 subjects were taught two software packages in a sequential manner over a 14-week period. The emergent patterns of the hypothesized relationships are examined using structural equation modeling techniques. Results largely support the relationships posited.

Enterprise agility and the enabling role of information technology

In turbulent environments, enterprise agility, that is, the ability of firms to sense environmental change and respond readily, is an important determinant of firm success. We define and deconstruct enterprise agility, delineate enterprise agility from similar concepts in the business research literature, explore the underlying capabilities that support enterprise agility, explicate the enabling role of information technology (IT) and digital options, and propose a method for measuring enterprise agility. The concepts in this paper are offered as foundational building blocks for the overall research program on enterprise agility and the enabling role of IT.

How information management capability influences firm performance

How do information technology capabilities contribute to firm performance? This study develops a conceptual model linking IT-enabled information management capability with three important organizational capabilities (customer management capability, process management capability, and performance management capability). We argue that these three capabilities mediate the relationship between information management capability and firm performance. We use a rare archival data set from a conglomerate business group that had adopted a model of performance excellence for organizational transformation based on the Baldrige criteria. This data set contains actual scores from high quality assessments of firms and intraorganizational units of the conglomerate, and hence provides unobtrusive measures of the key constructs to validate our conceptual model. We find that information management capability plays an important role in developing other firm capabilities for customer management, process management, and performance management. In turn, these capabilities favorably influence customer, financial, human resources, and organizational effectiveness measures of firm performance. Among key managerial implications, senior leaders must focus on creating necessary conditions for developing IT infrastructure and information management capability because they play a foundational role in building other capabilities for improved firm performance. The Baldrige model also needs some changes to more explicitly acknowledge the role and importance of information management capability so that senior leaders know where to begin in their journey toward business excellence.

Controlling Information Systems Development Projects: The View from the Client

Increasingly, business clients are actively leading information systems (IS) projects, often in collaboration with IS professionals, and they are exercising a greater degree of project control. Control is defined as all attempts to motivate individuals to achieve desired objectives, and it can be exercised via formal and informal modes. Much of the previous research investigating the choice of control mode has focused on direct reporting relationships between IS project leaders and their superiors in a hierarchical setting. However, the client-IS relationships may take on a variety of forms, including both hierarchical and lateral settings. Moreover, prior research has found that the knowledge of the systems development process is a key antecedent of control, yet clients are unlikely to be as knowledgeable as IS professionals about this process. It is therefore unclear whether prior findings will generalize to the client-IS pair, and the goal of this research is to examine the exercise of control across this relationship. Data were gathered from a questionnaire survey of 69 pairs of clients and IS project leaders. The results are largely consistent with prior research on the antecedents offormal control modes, but they shed new insight on the choice ofinformal control modes.

Research Commentary: The Organizing Logic for an Enterprise's IT Activities in the Digital Era--A Prognosis of Practice and a Call for Research

Prior research has generated considerable knowledge about the design of effective IT organizational architectures. Today, however, increasing signs have accumulated that this wisdom might be inadequate in shaping appropriate insights for contemporary practice. This essay seeks to direct research attention toward the following question:How should firms organize their IT activities in order to manage the imperatives of the business and technological environments in the digital economy? We articulate the platform logic as a conceptual framework for both viewing the organizing of IT management activities as well as for framing important questions for future research. In articulating this logic, we aim to shift thinking away from the traditional focus on governance structures (i.e., choice of centralized, decentralized, or federal forms) and sourcing structures (i.e., insourcing, outsourcing) and toward more complex structures that are reflective of contemporary practice. These structures are designed around important IT capabilities and network architectures.

Editorial Notes---The Growth of Interest in Services Management: Opportunities for Information Systems Scholars

Across the global economy, we are witnessing a dramatic transformation toward a services economy. At the same time, advances in information technologies provide significant opportunities for digitization of services and the development of services management thinking within the information systems community. This note aims to stimulate attention toward the promising research and teaching opportunities for information systems scholars in the domain of digitized services innovation, management, and use.