【Topic】IT Knowledge Spillovers and Productivity: Evidence from Enterprise Software

【Speaker】Prof. D. J. Wu，Information Technology Management at the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

【Time】July 3rd, Wednesday, 10:00-12:00

【Venue】Room 453,Weilun Building, Tsinghua SEM 

【Language 】English

【Organizer】Department of Management Science and Engineering

【Abstract】We evaluate the value to firms of participating in an Internet-enabled network of practice in which IT professionals exchange ideas and help each other resolve problems related to the implementation and use of enterprise software. We show that IT spillovers that take place in these online community networks contribute positively and significantly to firm productivity: by our estimates, a one percent increase in inward IT knowledge spillovers translates to a $0.48 million increase in added value for an average firm in our sample. Further, we highlight the limits of the extent to which firms can benefit from participating in these Internet-enabled networks of practice, by showing that the value of spillovers arises primarily from flows of technical rather than business knowledge related to the enterprise software's modules. Keywords: Information systems, IT knowledge spillovers, Productivity, Enterprise software, online community networks

Full paper available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2243886 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2243886 

【Bio】D. J. Wu is an Associate Professor in Information Technology Management at the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the Operations and Information Management Department, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; and his BE in Computer Science from Tsinghua University. Dr. Wu's current research interests center on the economics of enterprise information technology, particularly,  emerging business models for software commercialization, IT contract design, enterprise software platform ecosystems, and cloud computing.  Dr. Wu's recent work has been published in premier academic journals such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, and MIS Quarterly. His work has been cited over 2,000 times according to Google scholar.

Dr. Wu’s research won the “Best Paper in Valuing IT Opportunities” award, the “Best Paper in Web-Based Information Systems and Applications” award at the 2006 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), and the Runner-Up Best Conference Paper Award at the 2009 ICIS. Dr. Wu recently won the Linda and Lloyd L. Byars Award for Faculty Research Excellence, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, April, 2013.  Dr. Wu currently serves as an associate editor for Management Science (IS Department), Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (IT and Operations Interface), and as a senior editor for Production and Operations Management (Management of Technology Department). Dr. Wu co-edited a special section on information and competitive strategy in an networked economy for Journal of Management Information Systems (Fall 2012). Dr. Wu served as a track co-chair of ICIS (2009), and co-chaired the 2011 Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE). He also co-chaired the 2010 IT Teaching Workshop.