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Article
Publication date: 1 May 2000

Ganesh D. Bhatt

Business process redesign (BPR) is a management technique to radically transform organizations for dramatic improvement. Information technology (IT) plays a critical role in BPR…

3893

Abstract

Business process redesign (BPR) is a management technique to radically transform organizations for dramatic improvement. Information technology (IT) plays a critical role in BPR. The present study examines the links between IT infrastructure and BPR. The moderating effects of industry type, and information intensity of the firm are also analyzed. Data for the study were gathered through a survey of Fortune 500 US firms at divisional levels. Out of 1,200 questionnaires mailed to Fortune500 firm‐divisions, 124 responses were received. Out of 124 firm‐divisions 73 firm‐divisions were found to be adopting BPR techniques; 39 firm‐divisions were found to be adopting incremental improvement approaches. The rest of the responses were incomplete and could not be used. For data analysis, therefore, only 73 firm‐divisions were considered. The results of the study support the hypotheses that network infrastructure affects the dimensions of BPR (process improvement thrust, and customer focus), but data integration was not found to be significantly affecting the BPR dimensions. The moderating effect of industry type was found to be significantly affecting the relationship between network infrastructure and BPR dimensions. Other relationships were not found to be significant.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2018

Deepak Dahiya and Saji K. Mathew

Although governments are hugely investing in information technology (IT) infrastructure, eGovernment performance has reported variations in performance. The relationship between…

Abstract

Purpose

Although governments are hugely investing in information technology (IT) infrastructure, eGovernment performance has reported variations in performance. The relationship between IT infrastructure investments and eGovernment performance remains unexplored in academic research. This study aims to explain how investments in IT assets lead to infrastructure capability and eGovernment system performance. The work conceptualizes technical performance of IT infrastructure as a consequent of thoughtful investments in IT assets, which help generate IT infrastructure capability. The findings have important implications for eGovernment theory and practice in developing understanding about eGovernment IT infrastructure and supporting decision-making on the choice of infrastructure components.

Design/methodology/approach

This study showcases quantitative analysis based on survey method-based research using a questionnaire for testing the hypotheses formulated.

Findings

The analysis of the work showed that IT infrastructure performance is a significant mediator between investments in IT assets and IT infrastructure capability.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to constraints of data collection, probability sampling was not followed, which is a prerequisite for statistical generalization.

Practical implications

The study provides insights for governments on investing in technologies that meet requisite performance standards. IT infrastructure performance is an antecedent of IT infrastructure capability, which directly determines how an eGovernment system performs.

Social implications

The study shows that delay in implementing new service models such as cloud potentially result in relatively lower performance of the IT infrastructure for the investments made in the given assets.

Originality/value

This paper builds on the existing literature on IT assets, IT infrastructure performance and IT infrastructure capability and applies it to the eGovernment domain.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2016

Deepak Dahiya and Saji K. Mathew

Although government investments in IT is growing, it is unclear how and what kind of IT investments lead to desirable E-Government performance. Several studies pertaining to the…

1441

Abstract

Purpose

Although government investments in IT is growing, it is unclear how and what kind of IT investments lead to desirable E-Government performance. Several studies pertaining to the business value of IT have developed and tested frameworks for IT infrastructure, IT capability and business performance. However, E-Government-related IT investment outcomes cannot be measured by profits and hence requires a separate investigation. E-Government research using theoretical approach has been reported as very scarce in previous studies. This research aims to bridge the gap by developing a model to study IT infrastructure capability and E-Government performance in the emerging context of new IT service delivery models.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper follows a case study method in this research with a priori conceptual framework. The data were collected following an interview method used for deductive theory building.

Findings

The results identified a positive relationship between IT assets and IT infrastructure performance in the presence of service delivery channels and an anticipation of a positive influence of infrastructure performance variables on IT capability which in turn shows positive effect on E-Government performance.

Research limitations/implications

Because the study followed a qualitative approach, the findings from this study are not useful for statistical generalization. However, the analytical framework provides sufficient ground to test E-Government performance.

Practical implications

The study provides insights in the choice of IT infrastructure elements fitting an E-Government strategy.

Social implications

This study provides an integrated framework for measuring E-Government performance, thereby making deployment of IT infrastructure accountable both in terms of IT performance and IT capability. This in turn will lead to improvement in citizen services.

Originality/value

This paper builds on the existing literature on IT assets, IT infrastructure performance, IT infrastructure capability and applies to the E-Government domain.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2006

Anote Chanopas, Donyaprueth Krairit and Do Ba Khang

The purposes of this study are to present an operational definition of information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility and to provide a framework for assessing its…

3581

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study are to present an operational definition of information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility and to provide a framework for assessing its components.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive review of the relevant literature was conducted along with expert interviews to determine what experts considered to be the characteristics of IT infrastructure flexibility. A questionnaire was then developed, and 388 IT personnel with a wide range of experience verified the proposed framework. Factor analysis was conducted to reveal the common aspects of IT infrastructure flexibility.

Findings

The results expand on the four recognized components (connectivity, compatibility, modularity and IT personnel competency) from the literature by revealing five further components (scalability, continuity, rapidity, facility and modernity).

Research limitations/implications

The issue of external validity should be a concern because the samples were collected only from IT personnel in the financial service industry in Thailand. The improvement of the instrument to fit additional contexts is recommended.

Practical implications

Practitioners may now consider their IT infrastructure profiles and determine which components need more attention. Researchers may expand on this paper's results by conducting further investigations with other organizational measurements.

Originality/value

This study is the first to provide empirical evidence from the context of a developing country, which fills a significant gap in the literature. Although this study reports different findings from the literature, the results still complement rather than contradict the existing research framework.

Details

Management Research News, vol. 29 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0140-9174

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 July 2019

Peiran Gao, Yeming Gong, Jinlong Zhang, Hongyi Mao and Shan Liu

The purpose of this paper is to explore the joint effects of different types of IT resources and top management support. Especially, the authors attempt to mainly examine a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the joint effects of different types of IT resources and top management support. Especially, the authors attempt to mainly examine a negative synergy or substitution relationship between IT infrastructure resources and CEO support, and a positive synergy or complementary relationship between IT human resources and CEO support among the large-sized enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

A research model that integrates IT infrastructure resources, IT human resources, CEO support and the degree of usage of IT for business objectives (i.e. IT business spanning capability) is developed. Based on a sample of 112 large-sized enterprises, partial least squares is used to analyze the research model.

Findings

Whereas the positive moderating role of CEO support in the effectiveness of IT human resources is insignificant, CEO support and IT infrastructure resources have a substitution relationship in predicting IT business spanning capability. Furthermore, the results can explain under which conditions IT infrastructure resources insignificantly or significantly affect IT business spanning capability in large-sized enterprises. Specially, IT infrastructure resources significantly affect IT business spanning capability only when CEO support is low. Thus, in the presence of high CEO support, IT executives in large-sized enterprises should prioritize developing highly effective IT resources, such as IT human resources.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the joint effects of two critical IT resource types (i.e. IT infrastructure and IT human resources) and CEO support in the IT assimilation process among the large-sized enterprises, ultimately contributing to information systems theories and practices.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 119 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2010

Ganesh D. Bhatt and Ali F. Emdad

The purpose of this paper is to present a model that tests the relationship between information technology (IT) infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages.

1476

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a model that tests the relationship between information technology (IT) infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages.

Design/methodology/approach

Customer focus is categorized into: customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. The data for the study are obtained from 116 executives from a number of business organizations.

Findings

IT infrastructure is found to have a significant effect on customer responsiveness, but does not show any significant relationship with product/service innovation. IT infrastructure, customer responsiveness, and product/service innovation are found to be significantly related business advantages.

Research limitations/implications

The research is useful for academic scholars and managers as the results of the study show the value of firm‐specific resources such as IT infrastructure in business advantages. The research is also useful as it finds support for the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm.

Originality/value

The paper exemplifies how IT infrastructure can influence customer focus and thus affects directly and indirectly business advantages.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2009

Serdar S. Durmuşoğlu

The purpose of this paper it to investigate how sophistication of top management view on information technology (IT) infrastructure influences the firm's IT infrastructure…

2325

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper it to investigate how sophistication of top management view on information technology (IT) infrastructure influences the firm's IT infrastructure capability and the effect of IT infrastructure capability on new product development (NPD) process outcomes such as cost, cycle time, and quality.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from research‐based and knowledge‐based theories, a conceptual model on how IT infrastructure influences NPD process efficiency is developed.

Findings

The paper demonstrates that sophistication of top management view on IT Infrastructure enhances NPD process through its effect on IT infrastructure capability. IT infrastructure capability enhances the NPD process efficiency by reducing the cycle time and cost of NPD projects and improving the NPD process quality.

Practical implications

It is useful for practitioners to know that by adopting an enabling IT infrastructure view, managers can create IT infrastructure capabilities that could improve their NPD processes significantly.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should conduct empirical analysis of this paper's propositions and could examine what moderates the relationship between the sophistication of the top management's view on the firm's IT infrastructure and IT infrastructure capability. Scholars could also include firm performance as the final outcome of the influence of IT infrastructure view when testing the proposed model empirically.

Originality/value

Recent research pointed out that IT enabled the development of efficient new processes. This paper extends this argument by conceptually investigating how IT infrastructure enhances NPD process of a firm.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 March 2014

Hans Jochen Scholl and Beth Joy Patin

Disasters of catastrophic scope and scale have occurred more frequently in recent years. Governmental and non-governmental response management has struggled, and affected…

Abstract

Purpose

Disasters of catastrophic scope and scale have occurred more frequently in recent years. Governmental and non-governmental response management has struggled, and affected communities have severely suffered during extreme events. Colossal damage and loss of lives have been inflicted, and the recovery efforts require extended periods of time. In post hoc analyses, actionable information has been found a critical resource requiring resilient information infrastructures (RIIs) that do not break down even under extreme duress. RIIs encompass both tangible and less tangible (for example, social) elements. The purpose of this paper is to pave the way for empirical research on the subject and to conceptually develop a framework for the analysis of information infrastructures and their resiliency, when impacted by catastrophic incidents (also known as extreme events).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review the literatures of disaster research and related fields. They synthesize the literatures from the information perspective and develop a framework of RII.

Findings

The synthesis revealed that extreme event-ready RIIs have to be redundant and resourceful both in terms of social, organizational, and knowledge assets as well as in the information and communication technologies. RIIs combine tangible and non-tangible elements, whose interplay is so far incompletely understood.

Research limitations/implications

Roles and criticality of RIIs under the impact of an extreme event need to be studied empirically.

Practical implications

The study holds the promise to be of great potential utility for responders and recovery managers as well as affected communities in preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation efforts as timely and actionable information is still the scarcest and most sought resource during a catastrophic incident.

Originality/value

Disaster research so far has mostly focused on the technical, organizational, social, and socio-psychological effects of disasters. The authors are adding the information perspective as a unique and distinctive contribution to extreme event research, which connects the tangible elements of information infrastructures with its not so tangible elements, captures their interplay, and analyzes their role and criticality for the resiliency of the information infrastructures when under extreme duress.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1998

Claudio U. Ciborra and Ole Hanseth

The recent managerial literature on the development of corporate infrastructures to deliver sophisticated and flexible IT capabilities is based on a set of assumptions concerning…

2293

Abstract

The recent managerial literature on the development of corporate infrastructures to deliver sophisticated and flexible IT capabilities is based on a set of assumptions concerning the role of management in strategy formulation, planning and control; the role of IT as a tool; the linkages between infrastructure and business processes; the implementation process. This paper deconstructs such assumptions by gradually enriching the conventional management agenda with new priorities stemming from other styles of taking care of infrastructures. The original, straightforward management agenda appears to be lacking: its foundations are irremediably shaken. The paper finally evokes a philosophy‐based agenda, the only one valuable in the uncharted territory where the usual foundations do not deliver any longer. Such an agenda speaks a language of weak agency: releasement; dwelling with mystery; capacity to drop the tools; valuing marginal practices. Will the last agenda play a key role in coping with the information infrastructures of the next millennium?

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Hongyi Mao, Yeming Gong and Ryad Titah

The system of information technology (IT)-oriented resources and processes that organizations need to develop to achieve operational agility remains unclear. The study research…

Abstract

Purpose

The system of information technology (IT)-oriented resources and processes that organizations need to develop to achieve operational agility remains unclear. The study research seeks to extend existing competency literature by incorporating the unique contextual nuances of the relationship between IT capabilities and operational agility.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a multi-method approach, this paper presents a theoretical framework of IT-enabled operations strategy that conceptualizes the role of IT capability in leveraging resources and processes for operational agility. Drawing on operations and information systems research, the authors advance that IT enables operational agility through two dimensions. From the perspective of a resource-based operations strategy, the authors explore the role of IT in resource-leveraging activities by investigating the nonlinear relationship between IT infrastructure and IT reconfiguration. From the perspective of a process-oriented operations strategy, the authors explore the role of IT in process-enhancing activities by investigating the nonlinear relationship between IT coordination and IT integration.

Findings

The study results, based on a sample of 113 organizations in Europe, Asia and North America, show that the interaction between IT infrastructure and IT reconfiguration positively influences operational agility, hence showing complementarity between the two constructs, while the interaction between IT coordination and IT integration negatively affects operational agility, hence indicating substitutability between the two constructs. A series of 62 interviews and a case study of Carrefour were further conducted to validate the field survey's results and to provide a finer grained explanation of the research model and quantitative findings.

Originality/value

The study findings offer an alternative explanation of the inconsistent relationship between IT capability and operational agility.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

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