【Topic】When Do Information Technology Resources and Capabilities Lead to Organizational Agility?

【Speaker】Kai H. Lim

【Time】2009-11-20 14:00-15:30

【Venue】Room 453,Weilun Building

【Language】English

【Organizer】Department of Management Science and Engineering

【Background Information】

Abstract

This research examines how and under what situation firms can achieve organizational agility through their IT use. For this, the idea of organizational IT management capability, a capability to deploy and utilize IT resources, was conceptualized in terms of its strategic focus, i.e., IT exploitation and exploration. Their distinctive roles in creating organizational agility are examined in conjunction with environmental contingency, i.e., environmental dynamism. This research also identifies various types of IT resources that are associated with this IT management capability building and IT-enabled agility creation. Data from a large-scale field survey using multiple respondents complemented by secondary data are utilized to test a model of the relationships among IT resources, IT management capabilities, organizational agility, and environmental dynamism. The results of a structural equation model analysis indicate that both IT exploitation and exploration capabilities enable organizational agility, though their impacts vary under different levels of environmental dynamism. An additional post-hoc analysis reveals that each of the IT resources has specific role in building the two types of IT management capability under different levels of environmental dynamism. These findings provide a better understanding of the strategic role of IT in contemporary businesses.

Bio of Kai H. Lim

Kai H. Lim, Professor of Information Systems at City University of Hong Kong. He received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research interests include IT-enable business strategy and agility, eCommerce-related adoption issues, human-computer interactions, and cross-cultural issues related to information systems management. His work has appeared in the two most highly-regarded IS journals, Information Systems Research (ISR) and Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ). He is serving or has served on the editorial board of ISR, MISQ, and The Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS). Prior to joining CityU, he was on the faculty of Case Western Reserve University and the University of Hawaii. He has won numerous teaching awards, and is one of the top-ranking teachers teaching in the CityU’s EMBA program. He has conducted executive training in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.