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Organizations use IT to navigate uncertain, rapidly changing, and competitive environments. To achieve this, understanding the implications of the interplay among firm strategy, information technology (IT), and IT governance is critical to understanding firm success. In this work, we investigate the synergistic effects of business–IT strategic alignment (hereafter “alignment”), misalignment, and effectiveness of IT governance on firm performance among organizations with proactive/first-mover strategic orientations (hereafter “proactive organizations”). Using data from 87 organizations, we tested a moderated polynomial model that predicts alignment and misalignment’s effect on firm performance. The results indicated that effective IT governance in proactive organizations positively moderated the curvilinear relationship between alignment, misalignment, and firm performance. This paper contributes to research by offering a curvilinear and three-dimensional representation of the relationship between alignment, misalignment, and firm performance and by illustrating the moderating facets of IT governance. Moreover, for practice, it sheds light on the effects of misalignment, suggesting that proactive organizations with more effective IT governance are not likely to struggle with mild misalignment but may suffer more deleterious effects from severe misalignment. Our research sheds light on the conditions under which IT governance and alignment influence firm performance.

Creative information technology usage by employees is the critical link between business technology investments and competitive advantage in a digital economy. However, to realize anticipated benefits, organizational leaders need a richer understanding of what drives individuals’ innovation with incumbent organizational technologies. In support of that aim, this study theorized the processes by which a new concept in IS research, IT identity, motivates different forms of IT usage in the post-adoption context. We mapped these processes to two variance models and validated IT identity’s influences for two different technologies. For theory, our results demonstrate IT identity’s role as a key determinant of IT feature and exploratory usage, refine understanding of the nomological net of IT use, and create new opportunities to understand individuals’ interactions with IT in the post-adoption context. For practice, this study offers actionable suggestions for how organizational leaders can encourage employees to leverage IT more effectively in their work. In doing so, this study opens the door for future investigations into the reciprocal relationship between individual IT usage and organizational and/or societal outcomes.

As individuals’ relationships with information technology (IT) grow more complex and personal, our understanding of the problem of resistance to IT continues to evolve. Current approaches to resist...

Top management has been concerned with IT-business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) for the past 30 years. Consequently, alignment researchers have developed many mo...

Raising awareness of the importance of examining the role of age in IS phenomena.Providing a review of age-related IS research on which future work can build.Introducing the concept of "touch points of age".Enabling an improvement in the modeling and understanding of age-related impacts.Advancing a series of research questions to further knowledge in this area. As the workforce ages rapidly in industrialized countries, a phenomenon known as the graying of the workforce, new challenges arise for firms as they have to juggle this dramatic demographical change (Trend 1) in conjunction with the proliferation of increasingly modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Trend 2). Although these two important workplace trends are pervasive, their interdependencies have remained largely unexplored. While Information Systems (IS) research has established the pertinence of age to IS phenomena from an empirical perspective, it has tended to model the concept merely as a control variable with limited understanding of its conceptual nature. In fact, even the few IS studies that used the concept of age as a substantive variable have mostly relied on stereotypical accounts alone to justify their age-related hypotheses. Further, most of these studies have examined the role of age in the same phenomenon (i.e., initial adoption of ICTs), implying a marked lack of diversity with respect to the phenomena under investigation. Overall, IS research has yielded only limited insight into the role of age in phenomena involving ICTs. In this essay, we argue for the importance of studying age-related impacts more carefully and across various IS phenomena, and we enable such research by providing a research agenda that IS scholars can use. In doing so, we hope that future research will further both our empirical and conceptual understanding of the managerial challenges arising from the interplay of a graying workforce and rapidly evolving ICTs.

Fostering customer loyalty is a key objective for online businesses. Initial transactions with new customers are less profitable than transactions with existing customers, making loyalty an importa...

Prior research has shown that proximal states are important mechanisms through which distal states relate to IT usage. In particular, the influence of distal traits tied to social activity has not been incorporated into the nomological network surrounding information technology (IT) use. Addressing this literature gap, the authors develop their research model using Social Cognitive Theory and examine how two distal traits, social aversion (SA) and institution-based trust (TRIT), influence computer self-efficacy (CSE) and other proximal state-like differences related to IT use. The authors' results show that SA and TRIT demonstrated influence on CSE and CA at the general and specific levels of analysis, and that CSE mediates the influence of SA and TRIT on PU and PEOU, yet does not fully mediate the influence of CA on PU and PEOU. The implications of their findings for research and practice are discussed, as well as avenues for future research.

The costs associated with the turnover of information technology (IT) professionals continue to draw the attention of IT managers and researchers. Although a weak labor market has limited the quantity of turnover, organizations' most skilled IT personnel are still coveted and valuable resources. These IT professionals are also those most equipped to leave their firm and find new work. In order to reduce costs, retain key employees, and manage turnover, managers need to understand the factors that drive quitting behavior. The research model suggests that the utility of present and alternative IT work are key cognitive influences on an IT professional's decision to search for new employment, intention to quit, and, ultimately, turnover. We test the research model using longitudinal data that include actual turnover behavior. The research model explains 44% of the variance in intention to quit and 13% of the variance in actual turnover. After establishing the influence of utility on the quitting process, we conduct additional analyses to identify the elements of present and alternative job utility that are the most salient for IT professionals' quitting processes. From the additional analyses, we derive specific guidance to practice on the management of IT professionals.

Due to its extensive use for the study of information technology adoption and use, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) serves as an ideal base model for the study of post-acceptance IT diffusion outcomes. The research presented in this paper incrementally builds on TAM-based research to gain meaningful insights into the potential differences individuals’ exhibit in three types of diffusion outcomes in a post-acceptance context. The authors model and test the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on intentions to use, intentions to explore, and trying to innovate – IT diffusion outcomes proposed as vital in a post-acceptance context. In addition to TAM predictive variables, the authors investigate how autonomy, a personal control factor, and subjective norms, a social factor, influence individuals’ intentions toward and behaviors associated with technology use. The findings suggest cognitive intention outcomes are more likely to be influenced by technology-related factors, while behavioral outcomes are more likely to be influenced by social and personal control factors in post-acceptance contexts. Implications of the study for practice and future research are also discussed.

Trust plays an important role in many Information Systems (IS)-enabled situations. Most IS research employs trust as a measure of interpersonal or person-to-firm relations, such as trust in a Web vendor or a virtual team member. Although trust in other people is important, this article suggests that trust in the Information Technology (IT) itself also plays a role in shaping IT-related beliefs and behavior. To advance trust and technology research, this article presents a set of trust in technology construct definitions and measures. We also empirically examine these construct measures using tests of convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. This study contributes to the literature by providing: (a) a framework that differentiates trust in technology from trust in people, (b) a theory-based set of definitions necessary for investigating different kinds of trust in technology, and (c) validated trust in technology measures useful to research and practice.

In this study, we examine trust in information technology's (IT) relationship with postadoption exploration of knowledge management systems (KMS). We introduce and distinguish between trust in IT and trust in IT support staff as object-specific beliefs that influence technology's infusion into organizations. We suggest that these object-specific beliefs' influence on intention to explore KMS is mediated by behavioral beliefs about IT (e.g., perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). To test the model, we completed two studies. Study 1 examined users' perceptions of a knowledge portal. Study 2 examined IT professionals' perceptions of KMS. Across studies, our analysis suggests that trust in IT exerts direct effects on behavioral beliefs leading to intentions to explore KMS. Further, when compared to trust in IT support, we found that trust in IT played a more central role in shaping behavioral beliefs leading to exploration of IT. Implications for research and practice are offered.

Researchers have found computer self-efficacy (CSE) to be important to technology adoption. Past research has treated CSE as a unitary concept. This paper proposes that CSE has two dimensions-internal and external. The idea that CSE has internal and external dimensions is based on attribution theory, which identifies the human tendency to attribute events to causes that are either internal or external to the self. The internal CSE dimension focuses on how individuals perceive their capacity to use computers independently (i.e., without help). The external CSE dimension focuses on how individuals perceive their ability to use computers with human assistance and other forms of external support. Using items drawn from the Compeau and Higginspsila CSE instrument, this paper examines each dimension's relationship to computer anxiety and perceived ease-of-use of information technology. The paper also reports on six studies that examine this proposal, and contributes to the literature by identifying two distinct CSE dimensions, developing theory-driven explanations for their relationships to constructs within the CSE's nomological network, and empirically establishing that they have distinct effects. Implications for research and practice are presented.

This article examines within-culture variance in the influence of values on perceptions and use of information technology (IT). Based on cross-cultural research, we suggest that cultural values influence technology acceptance and use. Specifically, we argue that masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism directly influence personal innovativeness with IT, computer anxiety, and computer self-efficacy, and have a mediated effect on perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and use of IT. Overall, analysis provides support for the research model. Our results suggest that masculinity/femininity influences computer selfefficacy, computer anxiety, and personal innovativeness with IT. We also offer implications for research and practice.

We examined sources of Internet anxiety; specifically modeling the ties from broad dispositional traits (computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, and personal innovativeness with IT), beliefs about the work environment (about the adequacy of resources and trust in technology), and two forms of social support for IT (leader and peer support) to individuals' anxiety about using Internet applications. We tested our model using respondents who participated in virtual teams during a 16-week period. Our findings suggested that Internet anxiety was affected both by the users' personality and by beliefs that can be influenced by providing adequate resources to support the technology, encourage trust in technology, and working to assure users that leaders and peers are supportive of their using the technology. Our findings suggest that by providing appropriate resources and fostering a supportive environment, leaders could reduce Internet anxiety and thus influence the use of technology in the workplace in ways that benefit organizations.

This qualitative-inductive study examines the diffusion of information technologies across service providers that contract to provide public services for a state human service agency. The researchers were struck by extensive data that illustrated salient “ruptures,” inconsistencies, and contradictions in the information systems that stand in stark contrast to the touted characteristics of the ostensible systems. The analysis draws attention to the extensive political symbolism attached to the actual information systems and to contradictory institutional logics that different participants impose on the collecting and valuing of various parcels of information. The researchers provide a preliminary theory about the isomorphic diffusion of technologies into and across the nonprofit sector and argue that these institutional dynamics imply a structuration process at a level that is much more macro institutional than the structuration of information technology artifacts that has been emphasized by recent scholars who write in the adaptive structuration perspective.

This study examined intrinsic motivation's influence on information technology (IT) workers' attitudes and intentions. Drawing on Human Resource management research (Eby & Freeman, 1999), we model Intrinsic motivation as mediating the influence of motivators (i.e., intrinsic job characteristics) and hygiene factors (i.e., pay and supervisory satisfaction) on workplace attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment). In turn, workplace attitudes mediate the influence of intrinsic motivation on turnover intention. The model was tested using data collected from public sector IT workers in the Southeastern United States. Although intrinsic motivation did not fully mediate the influence of motivators and hygiene factors, findings suggest that intrinsic motivation positively influences workplace attitudes and has a mediated influence on turnover intent. Implications for research and practice are offered.

Although research has described the roles, responsibilities, and skills of effective chief information officers (CIOs) in for-profit organizations, little is known regarding the traits and skills that characterize effective military medical CIOs. This study identifies skills a military medical CIO needs to act as a technology strategist who can successfully identify information technology (IT) innovations and convert those innovations into organizational health IT solutions. We assessed the level of necessary informational, decisional, and interpersonal skills in a cross-sectional survey of 48 military medical CIOs. We also compared military medical CIO characteristics to general CIO characteristics. Our results show that both decisional and interpersonal skills are strongly related to informational skills necessary to convert innovations into organizational IT solutions. Further, decisional skills are strongly related to a CIO's ability to act as a technology strategist. Our study provides implications for research and practice.

This study examines intrinsic motivation's influence on information technology (IT) attitudes and intensions. Intrinsic motivation is modeled as mediating the influence of motivators (i.e., intrinsic job characteristics) and hygiene factors (i.e., pay and supervisory satisfaction) on workplace attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and affective commitment). In turn, workplace attitudes mediate the influence of intrinsic motivation on turnover intention. The model was tested using data collected from public sector IT workers in the Southeastern United States. Although intrinsic motivation did not fully mediate the influence of motivators and hygiene factors, findings suggest that intrinsic motivation positively influences workplace attitudes and has a mediated influence on turnover intent. Implications for research and practice are offered.

Research suggests that it is difficult to predict the influence of information technology (IT) on organizations. Using the structuration approach, theorists like Orlikowski suggest technology's effect is context dependent. Within organizations, structuration theory suggests IT's use and understanding reflects the interaction of individuals, social structures, and features of the technology. However, in the public sector, external institutions play an important role in shaping the development of internal structures. This paper develops a conceptual framework that links institutions and organizations social structures to the use and understanding of information technology in the public sector. To develop a more accurate image of the structuring process, it suggests theory should explicitly model the influence of regulative, normative, and cognitive institutions on how technology is used and perceived in government organizations.

This paper examines the dynamics of change resulting from organisations' attempts to modernise by implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, a highly complex and integrative software system. Change is an observable difference in an organisation's mode of operation and manner of shaping its environment. Some organisations treat innovations in Information Technology (IT) as a continuous incremental effort to adapt to change while other organisations embark in revolutionary change as a result of implementing IT. This study compares the differences in change mechanisms and their relationship to the performance of the new technology. Faced with the challenge of adapting to technological advances, capabilities within the organisation must be reconfigured for the organisation to realise desired competitive advantages.

Grounded in the theory of trying, this study examines the influence of the work environment and gender on trying to innovate with information technology. The study extends the innovation diffusion literature by offering a theory-driven explanation for examining trying to innovate with IT and a parsimonious measure for this construct. Drawing on the theory of reasoned action, we argue that work environment impediments render intentions inadequate for examining post-adoption IT use. Instead of examining intentions, we introduce the goal-based construct of trying to innovate with IT as an appropriate dependent variable for examining post-adoption IT use. Statistical analysis supports the reliability and validity of a parsimonious measure of trying to innovate with IT. The study focuses on two research questions. First, do perceptions of the work environment such as overload and autonomy influence individuals' trying to innovate with IT? Second, does gender influence the relationship between perceptions of the environment and trying to innovate with IT? The model articulates how perceptions of the environment moderated by gender may influence trying to innovate with IT. Results provide evidence that overload and autonomy are antecedents to trying to innovate with information technology. Further, findings confirm that autonomy interacts with overload to determine trying to innovate with IT and that these relationships vary by gender. Implications for research and practice are offered.

To better understand how individual differences influence the use of information technology (IT), this study models and tests relationships among dynamic, IT-specific individual differences (i.e., computer self-efficacy and computer anxiety), stable, situation-specific traits (i.e., personal innovativeness in IT) and stable, broad traits (i.e., trait anxiety and negative affectivity). When compared to broad traits, the model suggests that situation-specific traits exert a more pervasive influence on IT situation-specific individual differences. Further, the model suggests that computer anxiety mediates the influence of situation-specific traits (i.e., personal innovativeness) on computer self-efficacy. Results provide support for many of the hypothesized relationships. From a theoretical perspective, the findings help to further our understanding of the nomological network among individual differences that lead to computer self-efficacy. From a practical perspective, the findings may help IT managers design training programs that more effectively increase the computer self-efficacy of users with different dispositional characteristics.