The joint effects of IT resources and CEO support in IT assimilation. Evidence from large-sized enterprises
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-08-2018-0345 |
Date | 08 July 2019 |
Pages | 1321-1338 |
Published date | 08 July 2019 |
Author | Peiran Gao,Yeming Gong,Jinlong Zhang,Hongyi Mao,Shan Liu |
Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
The joint effects of IT
resources and CEO support
in IT assimilation
Evidence from large-sized enterprises
Peiran Gao
School of Management,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Yeming Gong
Emlyon Business School, Lyon, France
Jinlong Zhang
School of Management,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Hongyi Mao
School of Business Administration,
Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang, China, and
Shan Liu
School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is t o explore the joint effects of diff erent types of IT resources and top
management support. Es pecially, the authors at tempt to mainly examine a ne gative synergy or
substitution relatio nship between IT infr astructure resources and CEO support, and a po sitive
synergy or complement ary relationship betwe en IT human resources a nd CEO support among the
large-sized enterpr ises.
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 m oderating role of CEO su pport in the effective ness of IT
human resources is ins ignificant, CEO suppo rt and IT infrastructure resources have a subst itution
relationship in predi cting IT business spann ing capability. Furth ermore, the results can ex plain under
which conditions IT infras tructure resources insi gnificantly or signific antly affect IT business spa nning
capability in large-s ized enterprises. Specially, IT infr astructure resources significantly affect IT business
spanning capability o nly when CEO support is lo w. Thus, in the presence of high CEO support, IT
executives in large-si zed enterprises should prioritize de veloping 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
infrastructureand IT human resources) and CEOsupport in the IT assimilation processamong the large-sized
enterprises, ultimately contributing to information systems theories andpractices.
Keywords IT human resources, IT infrastructure resources, IT assimilation, CEO support,
IT business spanning capability, Large-sized enterprises
Paper type Research paper
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 119 No. 6, 2019
pp. 1321-1338
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-08-2018-0345
Received 9 August 2018
Revised 3 February 2019
Accepted 17 April 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (16ZDA013), the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (71722014, 71661017, 71801104, and 71531009). The
authors appreciate the Youth Innovation Team of Shaanxi Universities “Big data and Business
Intelligent Innovation Team”.
1321
IT resources
and CEO
support in IT
assimilation
1. Introduction
IT assimilation generally refers to the success achieved by enterprises in effectively using
IT to support business strategies, activities and goals (Armstrong and Sambamurthy,
1999). By emphasizing the embeddedness of IT applications into business processes and
incorporating IT into business practices, IT assimilation enables enterprises to realize the
business value of IT (Larsen and Myers, 1999; Mu et al.,2015).However,anincreasing
number of managers of large-sized enterprises have frequently stated that they have not
obtained any business value from IT since the failure rate of IT assimilation is high (Liang
et al., 2007). For this reason, the question of how to enhance IT assimilation among the
large-sized enterprises has attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners.
Table AI shows the main studies that aim at identifying the antecedents of IT assimilation,
which are categorized into three perspectives. The first is the resource perspective, arguing that
IT resources positively affect IT assimilation andthateffectivemanagementofITresources
contributes to IT assimilation (Ross et al., 1996; Bharadwaj, 2000; Ravichandran and
Lertwongsatiesn, 2005; Bhatt and Grover, 2005; Zhou et al., 2018; Tai et al., 2019). The second is
the top management support perspective, stating that top management support significantly
affects IT assimilation and that we can also take advantage of top management support to
enhance IT assimilation (Kearns and Sabherwal, 2006; Liang et al., 2007; Rai et al., 2009; Shao et al.,
2017; Shao, 2019). The third is the combined resource and top management support perspective,
highlighting that IT resources and top management support collectively affect IT assimilation
(Armstrong and Sambamurthy, 1999; Wade and Hulland, 2004). However, little is known about
how IT resources and top management support affect IT assimilation in large-sized enterprises.
First, although several studies have examined that the effectiveness of IT resources in the
IT assimilation process (e.g. Ravichandran and Lertwongsatiesn, 2005), the findings on the
effectivenessof IT resource types in the IT assimilationprocess are not fully consistent (Bhatt
and Grover, 2005; Zhou et al., 2018). Moreover, IT infrastructure resources in large-sized
enterprises have evolved into large-scale intelligent enterprise systems due to the advent of
Big Data, Internet of Things and artificial intelligent technologies (Lobaziewicz, 2018).
Therefore, the way in which critical IT resources, such as IT infrastructure and IT human
resources, influence IT assimilation in large-sized enterprises requires further examination.
Second, although Wade and Hulland (2004) propose that top management support
positively affects the effectiveness of IT resources, this proposition has not been
empirically examined. Furthermore, Mao et al. (2015a, 2016) have empirically proven that
various IT resources are more effective with high levels of top management support,
indicating positive synergy or complementary relationships between various IT resources
and top management support. Limited evidence has shown that there exists a negative
synergy or substitution relationship between some types of IT resources and top
management support, whereas there is a positive synergy or complementary relationship
between other types of IT resources and top management support. Nevertheless, such a
situation is possible with regard to large-sized enterprises. For example, Red Collar Group
(RCG), founded in 1995, is famous for manufacturing personalized-customized suits, coats,
shirts and trousers. To improve competitive advantages, RCG restructures its business
model driven by IT infrastructure resources (e.g. KuteSmart platform). Nowadays,
The IT assimilation process in RCG is made possible by the decision-making rules
embodied in KuteSmart platform as well as top management experience with IT practices
(Hu et al., 2016; Ying et al., 2018). Under such circumstance, IT infrastructure resources in
large-sized enterprises may substitute top management support despite other types
of IT resources, such as IT human resources, still complementing top management
support. The question of the joint effects of IT resources and top management support
(e.g. CEO support) in the assimilation process with regard to large-sized enterprises has
yet to be definitively answered.
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