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The alignment between a firm’s business and information technology (IT) strategies continues to be important for research and practice. Prior research investigating the performance consequences of strategic IT alignment (SITA) has produced inconsistent results. This paper distinguishes between two roles of SITA: (1) as a state of congruence between business and IT, which is the primary focus of empirical studies, and (2) as reflecting a capability that may enable or inhibit the leveraging of IT investments, as has been discussed theoretically but not examined empirically. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), IT investment (ITI) is explicitly included as the resource that SITA as a capability can inherently help leverage. Also based on RBV, we argue that environmental uncertainty, which is examined in terms of dynamism, complexity, and munificence, moderates the effect of SITA on the relationship between ITI and firm performance. The research model is tested through panel-data analyses of data from 1999–2008, including 758 firm-year observations from 242 firms. This study is the first to find that SITA as a state directly improves firm performance even when considering ITI and its interaction with SITA. Moreover, the effect of the interaction between SITA and ITI on firm performance increases with an increase in environmental dynamism or complexity and with a decrease in environmental munificence. We also find that the effect of the interaction between SITA and ITI can be negative under some environments. Specifically, the results suggest that (1) in dynamic, complex, and hostile environments, SITA does reflect a capability that enhances the positive effect of ITI on firm performance, but (2) in stable, simple, and munificent environments, SITA reflects a rigidity that reduces the positive effect of ITI on firm performance. The results are robust under a variety of statistical specifications and estimations.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how firms can develop business risk resilience from supply chain disruption events, by developing big data analytics (BDA) capabilities within their organization. The authors test whether BDA mediates the impact of institutional response to supply chain disruption events, and information technology infrastructure capabilities (ITICs), on firm’s ability to develop risk resilience from supply chain disruption events.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on survey data collected from 225 firms, spread across several sectors in the USA and Europe. The respondents are primarily senior and middle management professionals who have experience within the information technology (IT) and supply chain domain. Validity and reliability analyses were performed using SPSS and AMOS; and covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis.FindingsThe analysis reveals two significant findings. First, the authors observe that institutional experience with managing supply chain disruption events has a negative impact on firm’s ability to develop business risk resilience. However, if the organizations adopt BDA capabilities, it enables them to effectively utilize resident firm knowledge and develop supply chain risk resilience capacity. The results further suggest that BDA positively adds to an organization’s existing IT capabilities. The analysis shows that BDA mediates the impact of ITIC on the organization’s ability to develop risk resilience to supply chain disruption events.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few works that empirically validate the important role that BDA capabilities play in enabling firms develop business risk resilience from supply chain disruption events. The study further provides a counterpoint to the existing perspective within the supply chain risk management literature that institutional experience of managing past supply chain disruption events prepares the organization to deal with future disruption events. This paper adds to our understanding of how, by adopting BDA capabilities, firms can develop supply chain risk resilience from disruption events.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop an eccentric model to examine the factors that influence environmental performance in organizations based on belief–action–outcome framework and natural resource-based view theory.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by employing online survey from respondents in organizations to statistically test the eccentric model and its associated hypotheses. Partial least squares–structural equation modeling and Statistical Package for Social Sciences were utilized to analyze the survey data.FindingsThe results show that information technology (IT) professionals and IT executives’ behavior positively influences environmental performance. Further results suggest that the belief of IT professionals and IT executives is significantly influenced by the action of IT infrastructure, institutional pressure, organizational strategy and information diffusion. In addition, results reveal that the action of IT infrastructure, institutional pressure, organizational strategy and information diffusion in organizations significantly has an impact on the outcome of environmental performance. Moreover, results indicate that green information systems (IS) for pollution prevention, product stewardship and clean development initiatives adopted positively influence the environmental performance of organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe developed eccentric model further shows how green IS practice integration can improve environmental performance. However, the selected respondents are from a single country as such findings from this study cannot be generalized to other countries.Practical implicationsPractically, this paper has implications for the capability of IS to promote environmental performance in organizations.Social implicationsThis study provides a pertinent contribution in developing and validating an eccentric model for green IS adoption. Besides, a survey instrument is developed that can be used by future studies.Originality/valueThe developed model helps to explore the factors that influence environmental performance and also the outcomes of green IS adoption for environmental performance. Accordingly, IT professionals and IT executives can draw upon the eccentric model in assessing their current environmental-friendly practice for the effective initialization of green IS for corporate value.

The central theme of this paper is that information technology (IT) can serve to create ethical organizations endowed with virtuous characteristics, and that such ethical organizations can innovate better in today's dynamic market environment. Drawing on the notion of virtue ethics propounded by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, we theorize that core organizational IT affordances influence the development of organizational virtues, which in turn influence organizational improvisational capabilities and innovation. We propose the \"IT-virtues-innovation\" (IVI) model and test it using a cross-organizational survey of 250 employees from various organizations in the United States. Our findings largely support our proposal that IT affordances positively influence organizational virtues, which then influence organizational improvisational capabilities, thus improving organizational innovation. This paper contributes to the understanding of organizational innovation by articulating the strategic usefulness of IT-enabled organizational ethics, and it explains how IT-enabled ethical competence (virtues) influences strategic competence (improvisational capabilities and innovation).

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the extant literature about the exploitation of Internet of Things (IoT) in seaports by illustrating in detail how such IT infrastructures can impact on the redesign of their business processes. Thus, the research question of the study is: how do IoT technologies redesign the business processes of seaports? Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports the illustrative case study of the German Port of Hamburg, one of the main European seaports, which widely adopted technologies based on IoT over the last few years. Findings – The results show the adoption of IoT technologies widely redesigns and improves the performance of all the main business process of the port analyzed, in particular those processes related to technology and information of the organization. The IoT-driven business process redesign (BPR) must be planned strategically by the port management and implies the involvement of all the port stakeholders and, if necessary, the hiring external professional partners. Originality/value – Despite some authors report generically which are the ports operational domains more affected by IoT, there is a lack of studies about the specific implications of the adoption of such technologies on the BPR of seaports. The paper fills in this gap.

The use of modern digital technologies contributes to small-scale dairy farmers enhancing their business processes, increasing productivity, and addressing challenges related to sustainability. Small-scale dairy farmers are the ones most left behind in the process of implementing information technology. Therefore, there is a need to implement information technology that pays attention to the beneficial aspects seen from the aspect of small-scale farmers. The level of information technology application and human resource readiness can be measured as a basis for formulating strategies for implementing information technology. This research aims to assess the factors that affect information technology adoption among small-scale dairy farmers in Indonesia. The factors that influence the level of adoption of new information technology for small-scale dairy farmers were identified by literature studies, surveys, data analysis carried out using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling approach, and patterns related to aspects of technology application for small-scale dairy farmers. The findings in this research show that the factors that influence information technology adoption for small-scale dairy farmers consist of Digital Skill, Supporting, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Attitude Toward Use, and Behavioral Intention to Use. This research identified the pattern that the more complete the recording habits, the higher the level of farmer adoption of the use of new information technology. Apart from that, farmers with moderate incomes show a higher readiness to embrace technology, possibly driven by their aspiration to advance their businesses. Contrastingly, higher-income farmers exhibit less enthusiasm, potentially due to contentment with their current status and apprehension towards new risks. By offering a nuanced analysis of these factors, this study contributes significantly to the literature on agricultural information technology adoption, particularly within the context of small-scale dairy farming. It presents a novel understanding of the barriers and enablers to technology adoption, advocating for more personalized and contextually relevant support strategies. Furthermore, this research provides valuable insights for policymakers, extension agents, and technology developers on designing and implementing information technology adoption strategies that are not only technically viable but also socially and culturally acceptable.

This paper firstly divides the enterprise informatization strategy into three objectives, namely cost (C), time (T) and performance (P), so as to form a triangle with mutual constraints and equilibrium. Secondly, based on demand effect curve fitting, establish the product sales revenue effect function to find the product price that maximizes sales revenue. And under the cumulative effect of the multi-period business decision-making scheme, the traditional Markov process model is improved to form a multi-period business decision-making optimization method based on the Markov process. Finally, using Enterprise A as a study case in the horizontal expansion stage, simulation and sensitivity analysis of the enterprise’s business decision-making scheme are performed. The results show that in the 8-year operation cycle, as the target profit margin increases from 0.05 to 0.20, the cumulative profit level decreases from 11.43 to 8.38. Enterprises can select the scheme that obtains the optimal comprehensive ability in one aspect according to their own internal and external environments as the final implementation scheme.

Despite significant progress in evaluating the productivity payoffs from information technology (IT), the inability of traditional firm-level economic analysis to account fully for the intangible impacts of IT has led to calls for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to measuring IT business value. In response to this call, we develop a process-oriented model to assess the impacts of IT on critical business activities within the value chain. Our model incorporates corporate goals for IT and management practices as key determinants of realized IT payoffs. Using survey data from 304 business executives worldwide, we found that corporate goals for IT can be classified into one of four types: unfocused, operations focus, market focus, and dual focus. Our analysis confirms that these goals are useful indicators of payoffs from IT in that executives in firms with more focused goals for IT perceive greater payoffs from IT across the value chain. In addition, we found that management practices such as strategic alignment and IT investment evaluation contribute to higher perceived levels of IT business value.

Purpose – Despite the recognized role of motivation of actors in technology adoption decisions, there is limited understanding of the psychological processes underlying the motivation. The purpose of this paper is to explore this gap by investigating Building Information Modeling (BIM) adoption from the viewpoint of Maslow’s motivational theory on hierarchy of needs. Design/methodology/approach – This research uses mixed methods. Initially theoretical arguments establish the suitability of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as the conceptual framework to investigate technology adoption. The hypotheses and research questions are investigated using data collected through focus group interviews, interviews and field observations in Australian architecture engineering and construction (AEC). The findings are validated with a survey of BIM adoption cases reported in literature, and additional interviews conducted in Finnish AEC sector. Finally, abductive reasoning is applied to seek the best possible explanation for the observed patterns. Findings – It is found that besides individuals, organizations also demonstrate hierarchical ordering of innovation-related needs. Three broad categories of innovation-related needs are identified. Using abduction, the innovation-related needs of actors are described in terms of stable and excited states. Research limitations/implications – The findings are primarily based on studies conducted in regions with developed economies. Practical implications – This research shows that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs could be a useful diagnostic framework to assess actors’ response towards technology adoption. Originality/value – This investigation into the potential usefulness of Maslow’s theory into understanding technology adoption is by itself a novel research contribution. The finding that hierarchical view of needs can partly explain the adoption decisions of both individual and organizational actors is an original contribution.

Purpose - Drawing on the concept of fit, this paper aims to propose a knowledge management (KM) fit model within which KM strategy, IT strategy, and HRM strategy are coaligned and to empirically test this model with empirical data.Design methodology approach - Data for hypotheses testing are collected from top-ranked companies in Taiwan; yielding 161 valid samples. Performance implications of fit are examined using multiple perspectives with covariation and matching approaches.Findings - The findings show that the holistic perspective of fit as covariation supports the fit relationships on business performance. In addition, with the reductionistic perspective of fit as matching, the findings also show their bivariate relationships have significant impacts on business performance.Research limitations implications - A successful KM project must take various attributes into account, to ensure a positive outcome. In such a context, organization, process, human resources, and IT are thought to be the key elements and enablers for best KM practices. Thus, cogitating and integrating various factors related to the KM area are considered by researchers to be the most important tasks. However, fit mechanism is a dynamic process. The authors suggest that future research should adopt a longitudinal view to deal with the dynamic changes that may occur in fit operations.Originality value - There has been little attempt to explore KM issues by using multiple perspectives to examine the performance implications of fit on business performance. Thus, the authors posit that performance measuring in growth and profitability are affected by fit among these three KM-related strategies.