IT Enabled Organizational Agility and Firm Performance: Evidence from Chinese Firms (original) (raw)

IT-enabled organizational agility and firms' competitive success

2007

Organizational agility has recently received a great deal of attention as it is seen as a significant business capability which allows firms to respond flexibly to today’s rapidly changing business environment. However, it is still unclear as to how and why specific information technology (IT) investments can enable organizational agility and thus lead to a firm’s long-term competitive success. This dissertation study aims to explain the underlying mechanisms of IT-enabled agility creation and its impact on a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage. The study tests a set of hypotheses developed from a specific theory-based model. In particular, the study examines how firms can create organizational agility through their use of various IT resources. For this, drawing upon organizational rent-creation mechanisms and the theory of exploration and exploitation, the idea of organizational IT capability, a capability to deploy and utilize IT resources, was conceptualized in terms of its ...

Moderated mediation between IT capability and organizational agility

Human Systems Management, 2018

Organizational studies uphold the association between information technology (IT) capability and organizational agility. However, this relation often yields mixed and inconclusive results. This study establishes the links among firms' operational dynamic capability (OPDC), organizational agility and IT capability. Through snowball-sampling technique, data are collected from 298 respondents in the innovative sector of China. The data are analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) and the statistical technique PROCESS. The empirical evidence supports the mediating role that OPDC plays in the relation between IT capability and organizational agility. Moreover, the study identifies the positive moderating role of environmental dynamism in reinforcing the relation between IT capability and OPDC. The results can guide policy makers to enhance IT capability that enables OPDC, thereby leading to increased organizational agility. The study also provides avenues for future research.

The impact of IT capabilities on firm performance: The mediating roles of absorptive capacity and supply chain agility

Researchers and practitioners regard information technology (IT) as a competitive tool. However, current knowledge on IT capability mechanisms that affect firm performance remains unclear. Based on the dynamic capabilities perspective and the view of a hierarchy of capabilities, this article proposes a model to examine how IT capabilities (i.e., flexible IT infrastructure and IT assimilation) affect firm performance through absorptive capacity and supply chain agility in the supply chain context. Survey data show that absorptive capacity and supply chain agility fully mediate the influences of IT capabilities on firm performance. In addition to the direct effects, absorptive capacity also has indirect effects on firm performance by shaping supply chain agility. We conclude with implications and suggestions for future research.

The influence of technological innovative capabilities on firm performance: Moderating effect of strategic agility

Problems and Perspectives in Management

This study investigates the influence of technological innovative capabilities (TICs) on firm performance (FP) in the IT sector, with strategic agility as a moderator variable. This paper analyzes the TICs at the firm level in the service sector using the functional approach. An online structured questionnaire was adapted and refined to collect the required information on the influence of TICs dimensions on FP in the IT sector to achieve the objectives. The unit of analysis consists of top management staff and heads of departments from IT firms in Amman, Jordan. A sample of 67 IT firms was selected, and 300 questionnaires were distributed. A total number of returned responses was 223, producing a 74% response rate. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The revealed findings show that learning capability, marketing capability, organizational capability, and strategic planning capability had a significant influence on FP, whereas resource allocation capability ...

It-enabled strategic-level agility and firm performance: service versus manufacturing industry

This study investigates the organizational value of IT-enabled strategic capabilities in specific industry settings. We propose a theory-based model of positive relationships among IT resources, strategic-level agility, and firm performance. The model also proposes the relative values of the strategic-level agility in service and manufacturing industries. Survey data of medium to large-size enterprises in the United States were used to validate the model. The results indicate that the role of strategic-level agility in leading to firm performance is more significant in manufacturing industry than in service industry. Also, the values of IT resources, i.e., IT infrastructure and IT strategic planning, vary under the different industries. Our findings, although significant, challenge the conventional perspective on the core competence of service and manufacturing industries and thus call for further investigations on the strategic role of IT in the two distinct industries.

IT-Enabled Organizational Agility and Firms' Sustainable Competitive Advantage

2007

By reflecting on the polymorphous aspects of firms' strategic responses to environmental dynamics, we differentiate two distinctive types of agility, namely, entrepreneurial agility (anticipating and proactive) and adaptive agility (sensing and reactive). In this light, we investigate how and why firms' IT and operational capabilities can enable these two types of agility, thereby leading to sustainable competitive advantage. To empirically validate the proposed model, we conducted a large-scale field survey with multiple respondents in China, an emerging economy with a large variance in market uncertainty and IT maturity among companies. The results indicate that specific complementary relationships between IT and operational capabilities are the significant driving forces of each type of agility. The two types of agility are also found to be significant in leading to sustainable competitive advantage while their impacts differ. This study provides a better understanding of the strategic role of IT in contemporary businesses.

The Mediating Impact of IT Capabilities on the Association between Dynamic Capabilities and Organizational Agility: The Case of the Jordanian IT Sector

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management

This study suggests a novel progression to the current research endeavor by investigating the influence of information technology capabilities on organizational agility. More specifically, this study aims to fill the gaps found in previous studies and contribute to the current state of knowledge of this domain by focusing on the mediating role that IT capabilities play between dynamic capabilities and organizational agility. Toward that end, 270 Jordanian professionals working in supply chain management and operational departments were approached. Data were collected via distrusting a structured questionnaire that includes items assessing dynamic capabilities, IT capabilities, and organizational agility. The results demonstrated that IT capabilities significantly and positively mediated the relationship between resource-based dynamic capability and organizational agility. The study has also discussed several theoretical along with managerial implications of the research.

IT-Enabled Organizational Agility and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

By reflecting on the polymorphous aspects of firms' strategic responses to environmental dynamics, we differentiate two distinctive types of agility, namely, entrepreneurial agility (anticipating and proactive) and adaptive agility (sensing and reactive). In this light, we investigate how and why firms' IT and operational capabilities can enable these two types of agility, thereby leading to sustainable competitive advantage. To empirically validate the proposed model, we conducted a large-scale field survey with multiple respondents in China, an emerging economy with a large variance in market uncertainty and IT maturity among companies. The results indicate that specific complementary relationships between IT and operational capabilities are the significant driving forces of each type of agility. The two types of agility are also found to be significant in leading to sustainable competitive advantage while their impacts differ. This study provides a better understanding of the strategic role of IT in contemporary businesses.

Information technology-enabled dynamic capabilities and their indirect effect on competitive performance: Findings from PLS-SEM and fsQCA

Journal of Business Research, 2017

A central question for researchers and practitioners is whether and how IT (information technology) can help build a competitive advantage in uncertain environments. To address this question, the present study seeks to empirically explore the relationship between IT-enabled dynamic capabilities and competitive performance. By drawing upon recent thinking in the strategy and IT management literatures, this paper argues that the impact of IT-enabled dynamic capabilities on competitive performance is mediated by organizational agility. Using survey data from 274 international firms and by applying structural equation modelling (SEM), outcomes suggest that IT-enabled dynamic capabilities facilitate two types of agility, market capitalizing and operational adjustment agility, which in sequence enhance competitive performance. The confluence of environmental factors is examined by fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results of fsQCA reinforce and refine findings of the PLS analysis concerning the limits and conditions to which IT-enabled dynamic capabilities add value.

The Impact Of Information Technology Capability to A Company Agility

2019

The capability of ICT infrastructure has been proven to lead the process development and efficient activity management that could reduce the cost for the small company. This research was using the survey method. The results showed this research has managed to get the prove that the prime dimension that contributes the most in the formation of ICT capability is the ICT management, Proactive to ICT and Capability of ICT Infrastructure.