Issue Date
2011Subjects
IT business valueresource-based view
contingency RBV
Contingency theory
fit
misfit
mediator
moderator
synergy
complementarity
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Empirical research on the business value of IT has often been underpinned by the indispensable tenet of resource complementarity in the resource-based view (RBV) and the crucial concept of fit rooted in contingency theory. Increasingly, it has been recognised that IT needs to be integrated with other organisational factors to create business value. However, empirical studies differ in varying degrees from what organisational factors to be examined and their research findings, but also have been largely biased towards examining pairwise relationships between IT and organisational factors. This paper argues that IT is an integral part of a system of interrelated organisational factors and that a holistic approach is required to further understand when, how and why IT creates business value. After summarising what has been learnt from empirical studies of IT business value, this paper discusses the key conceptual issues of internal fit and resource complementarity as currently conceptualised and employed in the research domain. In order to continue advancing knowledge, this paper argues for and presents a contingency RBV to provide an alternative conceptualisation of IT business value. Essentially, the contingency RBV conjectures that the level of IT business value depends on the interaction of a whole system subject simultaneously to multiple moderators and mediators. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of the value of the contingency RBV and its implications for future research.Citation
Cao, G., Wiengarten, F., Humphreys, P. (2010) 'Towards a Contingency Resource-Based View of IT Business Value' Systemic Practice and Action Research 24 (1):85Publisher
SpringerAdditional Links
http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-010-9178-0Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1094-429X1573-9295
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s11213-010-9178-0
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