The impact of industry contextual factors on IT focus and the use of IT for competitive advantage.

Grover S. Kearns, Albert L. Lederer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

<p> Only limited empirical evidence has con&filig;rmed the effectiveness of strategic information systems planning (SISP) and there is no evidence that investment in mission-critical systems leads to improved performance under conditions of environmental uncertainty and information intensity. This study tests the extent to which such contextual factors impact business dependence on IT and two SISP practices: IT participation in business planning and the alignment between the IT and the business plans. It also examines the in&fllig;uence of IT dependence and SISP on the use of IT for competitive advantage. Using structural equation modeling on postal survey data from 161 &filig;rms, it found a positive and signi&filig;cant impact of the contextual factors on business dependence on IT and the two SISP practices and between these factors and the use of IT for competitive advantage. Data also revealed signi&filig;cant differences between industry types and environmental uncertainty but not information intensity. Implications are discussed.</p>
Original languageAmerican English
JournalDefault journal
StatePublished - Jan 1 2004

Keywords

  • Information intensity
  • strategic information systems planning
  • Competitive advantage
  • Structural equation modeling

Disciplines

  • Accounting
  • Business

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