IS

Kraemer, Kenneth L.

Research Interests (41)

List of Topics (41)

Topic Weight Topic Terms
1.051 countries global developing technology international country developed national economic policy domestic study foreign globalization world
0.762 productivity information technology data production investment output investments impact returns using labor value research results
0.615 managers managerial manager decisions study middle use important manager's appropriate importance context organizations indicate field
0.591 value business benefits technology based economic creation related intangible cocreation assessing financial improved key economics
0.516 model research data results study using theoretical influence findings theory support implications test collected tested
0.388 perceptions attitudes research study impacts importance perceived theory results perceptual perceive perception impact relationships basis
0.380 adoption diffusion technology adopters innovation adopt process information potential innovations influence new characteristics early adopting
0.378 complexity task environments e-business environment factors technology characteristics literature affect influence role important relationship model
0.363 performance firm measures metrics value relationship firms results objective relationships firm's organizational traffic measure market
0.332 satisfaction information systems study characteristics data results using user related field survey empirical quality hypotheses
0.325 firms firm financial services firm's size examine new based result level including results industry important
0.324 research researchers framework future information systems important present agenda identify areas provide understanding contributions using
0.309 capabilities capability firm firms performance resources business information technology firm's resource-based competitive it-enabled view study
0.284 states united employment compensation labor workers paper work extent findings increasing implications concerns relationship managerial
0.261 e-commerce value returns initiatives market study announcements stock event abnormal companies significant growth positive using
0.239 alignment strategic business strategy performance technology value organizational orientation relationship information misalignment matched goals perspective
0.228 power perspective process study rational political perspectives politics theoretical longitudinal case social rationality formation construction
0.227 standards interorganizational ios standardization standard systems compatibility effects cooperation firms industry benefits open interoperability key
0.211 effect impact affect results positive effects direct findings influence important positively model data suggest test
0.187 effects effect research data studies empirical information literature different interaction analysis implications findings results important
0.177 business units study unit executives functional managers technology linkage need areas information long-term operations plans
0.162 edi electronic data interchange b2b exchange exchanges interorganizational partners adoption transaction trading supplier factors business
0.159 technology organizational information organizations organization new work perspective innovation processes used technological understanding technologies transformation
0.157 digital divide use access artifacts internet inequality libraries shift library increasingly everyday societies understand world
0.154 response responses different survey questions results research activities respond benefits certain leads two-stage interactions study
0.152 executive information article systems presents eis executives overview computer-based scanning discusses investigation support empirical robert
0.149 market competition competitive network markets firms products competing competitor differentiation advantage competitors presence dominant structure
0.146 structure organization structures organizational centralized decentralized study organizations forms decentralization processing communication sharing cbis activities
0.139 use support information effective behaviors work usage examine extent users expertise uses longitudinal focus routine
0.138 structural modeling scale equation implications economies large future framework perspective propose broad scope resulting identified
0.136 validity reliability measure constructs construct study research measures used scale development nomological scales instrument measurement
0.136 costs cost switching reduce transaction increase benefits time economic production transactions savings reduction impact services
0.127 development systems methodology methodologies information framework approach approaches paper analysis use presented applied assumptions based
0.124 agility capital substitution non-it enablers significant inhibitors link dynamism does agile labor executives enabling dual
0.124 innovation innovations innovative organizing technological vision disruptive crowdsourcing path implemented explain base opportunities study diversity
0.122 increased increase number response emergency monitoring warning study reduce messages using reduced decreased reduction decrease
0.119 management practices technology information organizations organizational steering role fashion effective survey companies firms set planning
0.115 mis management article resources sciences developing organization future recommendations procedures informing organizational assessment professional groups
0.110 e-government collective sociomaterial material institutions actors practice particular organizational routines practices relations mindfulness different analysis
0.110 research study different context findings types prior results focused studies empirical examine work previous little
0.107 industry industries firms relative different use concentration strategic acquisitions measure competitive examine increases competition influence

Coauthor Network

■ Focal Researcher     ■ Coauthors of Focal Researcher (1st degree)     ■ Coauthors of Coauthors (2nd degree)

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List of Coauthors (20)

Zhu, Kevin Xiaoguo 4 Dedrick, Jason 3 Gurbaxani, Vijay 3 Pinsonneault, Alain 2
Tallon, Paul P. 2 Chwelos, Paul 1 Dewan, Sanjeev 1 Danziger, James N. 1
Dunkle, Debora E. 1 Ganley, Dale 1 King, John Leslie 1 King, John L. 1
McFarlan, F. Warren 1 Melville, Nigel P. 1 Raman, K. S. 1 Ramirez, Ronald V. 1
Shih, Eric 1 Xin Xu, Sean 1 Xu, Sean Xin 1 Yap, C. S. 1

Article Keywords (90)

Firm Performance 3 Business Value 2 Electronic Commerce 2 Information Technology 2
Innovation 2 technology diffusion 2 Value Chain 2 Asia-Pacific Region 1
back-end integration 1 business value of information technology 1 Computer Industry 1 Competition 1
capital services 1 complement 1 codiffusion 1 Computer-based information 1
capital-labor substitution 1 cross-country comparison 1 diffusion model 1 digital divide 1
developed countries 1 developing countries 1 e-Commerce Metrics 1 e-business 1
economies of standards 1 electronic data interchange 1 electronic business 1 executive perceptions 1
financial services industry 1 Globalization 1 global IT 1 hedonic 1
human resources 1 Institutions 1 Increasing and Decreasing Returns 1 Industrial Policy 1
Industry Structure 1 IT Intensity 1 international perspective 1 IT investment 1
IT business value 1 IT diffusion 1 IT penetration 1 impact on middle managers 1
increase/decrease in middle managers 1 Internet 1 interorganizational systems 1 Impacts of Information Technology 1
Information Technology Strategy 1 information technology investment 1 IT organizational impacts 1 IT value measurement 1
IT and productivity 1 knowledge executives 1 longitudinal analysis 1 Measurement 1
managerial actionalism 1 Net-Enhanced Organizations 1 network effects 1 organizational decentralization 1
Open standards 1 objective measures 1 openness to trade and investment 1 price index 1
productivity 1 public managers 1 path dependency 1 perceptual measures 1
PLSGraph 1 process orientation 1 production function 1 resource-based view 1
rental price 1 research methodology 1 research of management information systems 1 substitute 1
style of computing use 1 structurational perspective 1 standards diffusion 1 switching costs 1
survey research 1 sense making 1 technological change 1 technological determinism 1
technology--organization--environment framework 1 telecommunications cost 1 telecommunications infrastructure 1 usage 1
usefulness of information 1 value 1

Articles (14)

Information Technology and Productivity in Developed and Developing Countries. (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2013)
Authors: Abstract:
    Previous research has found that information technology (IT) investment is associated with significant productivity gains for developed countries but not for developing countries. Yet developing countries have continued to increase their investment in IT rapidly. Given this apparent disconnect, there is a need for new research to study whether the investment has begun to pay off in greater productivity for developing countries. We analyze new data on IT investment and productivity for 45 countries from 1994 to 2007, and compare the results with earlier research. We find that upper-income developing countries have achieved positive and significant productivity gains from IT investment in the more recent period as they have increased their IT capital stocks and gained experience with the use of IT. We also find that the productivity effects of IT are moderated by country factors, including human resources, openness to foreign investment, and the quality and cost of the telecommunications infrastructure. The academic implication is that the effect of IT on productivity is expanding from the richest countries into a large group of developing countries. The policy implication is that lower-tier developing countries can also expect productivity gains from IT investments, particularly through policies that support IT use, such as greater openness to foreign investment, increased investment in tertiary education, and reduced telecommunications costs.
Does Technological Progress Alter the Nature of Information Technology as a Production Input? New Evidence and New Results. (Information Systems Research, 2010)
Authors: Abstract:
    Prior research at the firm level finds information technology (IT) to be a net substitute for both labor and non-IT capital inputs. However, it is unclear whether these results hold, given recent IT innovations and continued price declines. In this study we extend prior research to examine whether these input relationships have evolved over time. First, we introduce new price indexes to account for varying technological progress across different types of IT hardware. Second, we use the rental price methodology to measure capital in terms of the flow of services provided. Finally, we use hedonic methods to extend our IT measures to 1998, enabling analysis spanning the emergence of the Internet. Analyzing approximately 9,800 observations from over 800 Fortune 1,000 firms for the years 1987-1998, we find firm demand for IT to be elastic for decentralized IT and inelastic for centralized IT. Moreover, Allen Elasticity of Substitution estimates confirm that through labor substitution, the increasing factor share of IT comes at the expense of labor. Last, we identify a complementary relationship between IT and ordinary capital, suggesting an evolution in this relationship as firms have shifted to more decentralized organizational forms. We discuss these results in terms of prior research, suggest areas of future research, and discuss managerial implications.
Complementarities in the Diffusion of Personal Computers and the Internet: Implications for the Global Digital Divide. (Information Systems Research, 2010)
Authors: Abstract:
    This paper studies the cross-country diffusion of personal computers (PCs) and the Internet, and examines how the diffusive interactions across these technologies affect the evolution of the global digital divide. We adopt a generalized diffusion model that incorporates the impact of one technology's installed base on the diffusion of the other technology. We estimate the model on data from 26 developing and developed countries between 1991 and 2005. We find that the codiffusion effects between PCs and the Internet are complementary in nature and the impact of PCs on Internet diffusion is substantially stronger in developing countries as compared to developed ones. Furthermore, our results suggest that these codiffusive effects are a significant driver of the narrowing of the digital divide. We also examine the policy implications of our results, especially with respect to how complementarities in the diffusion of PC and Internet technologies might be harnessed to further accelerate the narrowing of the global digital divide.
Fact or Fiction? A Sensemaking Perspective on the Reality Behind Executives' Perceptions of IT Business Value. (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Authors: Abstract:
    Although research has made significant strides in recent years in evaluating the performance impacts from information technology (IT), a dearth of easily accessible objective measures, particularly at the process level, continues to limit IT research. Suggestions that researchers use perceptual measures instead are met with claims that the biased nature of perceptions renders them imperfect proxies for the true extent of IT impacts. In this paper, we use sensemaking theory to explore this claim. We outline a model relating what executives notice about process-level IT impacts with sensemaking-based perceptions of IT impacts at the firm level, and firm performance as the ultimate arbiter of perceptual accuracy. Estimating the model with survey data from executives in 196 firms, we find that executives' perceptions are more fact than fiction. While perceptions are not a perfect proxy for hard-to-find objective measures, perceptual accuracy should stimulate greater consideration of executives' perceptions in future IT business value research.
MIGRATION TO OPEN-STANDARD INTERORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS: NETWORK EFFECTS, SWITCHING COSTS, AND PATH DEPENDENCY. (MIS Quarterly, 2006)
Authors: Abstract:
    As firms seek to improve coordination through the use of electronic interorganizational systems (IOS), open standards are becoming increasingly important. To better understand the process of standards diffusion, we investigate firms' migration from proprietary or less-open IOS (i.e., electronic data interchange or EDI) to open-standard IOS (i.e., the Internet). Theoretical work in economics suggests that network effects are a determinant of network adoption, yet the extant literature falls short of empirical testing of the theory. We develop a conceptual model that features network effects, expected benefits, and adoption costs as prominent antecedents. We examine the model on a large dataset of 1,394 firms. The empirical results demonstrate the significant impacts of network effects on open-standard IOS adoption. We find that adoption costs are a significant barrier to open-standard IOS adoption, but EDI users and nonusers treat this very differently: EDI users are much more sensitive to the costs of switching to the new standard. This finding illustrates that experience with older standards may create switching costs and make it difficult to shift to open and potentially better standards, a phenomenon called "excess inertia" in technology change. Further testing the underlying factors that contribute to network effects and adoption costs, we find that trading community influence is a key driver of network effects, while managerial complexity, as opposed to financial costs, is a key determinant of adoption costs. Overall we believe that this study, based on a rigorous empirical analysis of a unique international dataset, provides valuable insights into a set of key factors that influence standards diffusion.
Post-Adoption Variations in Usage and Value of E-Business by Organizations: Cross-Country Evidence from the Retail Industry. (Information Systems Research, 2005)
Authors: Abstract:
    Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature and the resource-based theory, this paper develops an integrative research model for assessing the diffusion and consequence of e-business at the firm level. Unlike the typical focus on adoption as found in the literature, we focus on postadoption stages, that is, actual usage and value creation. The model thus moves beyond dichotomous "adoption versus nonadoption" and accounts for the :missing link"-actual usage-as a critical stage of value creation. The model links technological, organizational, and environmental factors to e-business use and value, based on which a series of hypotheses are developed. The theoretical model is tested by using structural equation modeling on a dataset of 624 firms across 10 countries in the retail industry. To probe deeper into whether e-business use and value are influenced by economic environments, two subsamples from developed and developing countries are compared. The study finds that technology competence, firm size, financial commitment, competitive pressure, and regulatory support are important antecedents of e-business use. In addition, the study finds that, while both front-end and back-end capabilities contribute to e-business value, back-end integration has a much stronger impact. While front-end functionalities are becoming commodities, e-businesses are more differentiated by back-end integration. This is consistent with the resource-based theory because back-end integration possesses the value-creating characteristics of resources (e.g., firm specific, difficult to imitate), which are strengthened by the Internet-enabled connectivity. Our study also adds an international dimension to the innovation diffusion literature, showing that careful attention must be paid to the economic and regulatory factors that may affect technology diffusion across different countries.
Information Technology Payoff in E-Business Environments: An International Perspective on Value Creation of E-Business in the Financial Services Industry. (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Authors: Abstract:
    Grounded in the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, we develop a research model for assessing the value of e-business at the firm level. Based on this framework, we formulate six hypotheses and identify six factors (technology readiness, firm size, global scope, financial resources, competition intensity, and regulatory environment) that may affect value creation of e-business. Survey data from 612 firms across 10 countries in the financial services industry were collected and used to test the theoretical model. To examine how e-business value is influenced by economic environments, we compare two subsamples from developed and developing countries. Based on structural equation modeling, our empirical analysis demonstrates several key findings: (1) Within the TOE framework, technology readiness emerges as the strongest factor for e-business value, while financial resources, global scope, and regulatory environment also significantly contribute to e-business value. (2) Firm size is negatively related to e-business value, suggesting that structural inertia associated with large firms tends to retard e-business value. (3) Competitive pressure often drives firms to adopt e-business, but e-business value is associated more with internal organizational resources (e.g., technological readiness) than with external pressure to adopt. (4) While financial resources are an important factor in developing countries, technological capabilities become far more important in developed countries. This suggests that as firms move into deeper stages of e-business transformation, the key determinant of e-business value shifts from monetary spending to higher dimensions of organizational capabilities. (5) Government regulation plays a much more important role in developing countries than in developed countries. These findings indicate the usefulness of the proposed research model and theoretical framework for studying e-business value. They also provide insight
e-Commerce Metrics for Net-Enhanced Organizations: Assessing the Value of e-Commerce to Firm Performance in the Manufacturing Sector. (Information Systems Research, 2002)
Authors: Abstract:
    In this study, we developed a set of constructs to measure e-commerce capability in Internet-enhanced organizations. The e-commerce capability metrics consist of four dimensions: information, transaction, customization, and supplier connection. These measures were empirically validated for reliability, content, and construct validity. Then we examined the nomological validity of these e-commerce metrics in terms of their relationships to firm performance, with data from 260 manufacturing companies divided into high IT-intensity and low IT-intensity sectors. Grounded in the dynamic capabilities perspective and the resource-based theory of the firm, a series of hypotheses were developed. After controlling for variations of industry effects and firm size, our empirical analysis found a significant relationship between e-commerce capability and some measures of firm performance (e.g., inventory turnover), indicating that the proposed metrics have demonstrated value for capturing e-commerce effects. However, our analysis showed that e-commerce tends to be associated with the increased cost of goods sold for traditional manufacturing companies, but there is an opposite relationship for technology companies. This result seems to highlight the role of resource complementarity for the business value of e-commerce--traditional companies need enhanced alignment between e-commerce capability and their existing IT infrastructure to reap the benefits of e-commerce.
Executives' Perceptions of the Business Value of Information Technology: A Process-Oriented Approach. (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2000)
Authors: Abstract:
    Despite significant progress in evaluating the productivity payoffs from information technology (IT), the inability of traditional firm-level economic analysis to account fully for the intangible impacts of IT has led to calls for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to measuring IT business value. In response to this call, the authors develop a process-oriented model to assess the impacts of IT on critical business activities within the value chain. Their model incorporates corporate goals for IT and management practices as key determinants of realized IT payoffs. Using survey data from 304 business executives worldwide, they found that corporate goals for IT can be classified into one of four types: unfocused, operations focus, market focus, and dual focus. Their analysis confirms that these goals are useful indicators of payoffs from IT in that executives in firms with more focused goals for IT perceive greater payoffs from IT across the value chain. In addition, the authors found that management practices such as strategic alignment and IT investment evaluation contribute to higher perceived levels of IT business value.
Globalization and Increasing Returns: Implications for the U.S. Computer Industry. (Information Systems Research, 1998)
Authors: Abstract:
    Over the last twenty years, the computer industry has become global with respect to computer production as well as computer use, a trend which has raised concerns among U.S. policymakers of hollowing out the industry and exporting employment. This paper uses the framework of increasing returns to analyze the issue. It classifies market segments within the computer industry, shows how the advent of the personal computer created these segments, examines how this change in the structure of the industry led to the evolution of an Asia-Pacific production network, identifies company and country leadership in this network, and evaluates the implications for the United States. It shows that some manufacturing employment, mainly in the decreasing returns segments of the industry, has shifted to the Asia- Pacific region. However, it also shows that employment in some manufacturing segments and in software and services, which are increasing returns or hybrid markets, has increased dramatically in the United States. It concludes that the global division of labor between the United States and both companies and countries in the Asia-Pacific region has been largely positive in that it has supported the continuing U.S. leadership position in the global computer industry.
Institutional Factors in Information Technology Innovation. (Information Systems Research, 1994)
Authors: Abstract:
    Innovation in information technology is well established in developed nations; newly industrializing and developing nations have been creating governmental interventions to accelerate IT innovation within their borders. The lack of coherent policy advice for creating government policy for IT innovation signals a shortfall in research understanding of the role of government institutions, and institutions more broadly, in IT innovation. This paper makes three points. First, long-established intellectual perspectives on innovation from neoclassical economics and organization theory are inadequate to explain the dynamics of actual innovative change in the IT domain. A broader view adopted from economic history and the new institutionalism in sociology provides a stronger base for understanding the role of institutions in IT innovation. Second, institutional intervention in IT innovation can be constructed at the intersection of the influence and regulatory powers of institutions and the ideologies of supply-push and demand-pull models of innovation. Examples of such analysis are provided. Third, institutional policy formation regarding IT innovation is facilitated by an understanding of the multifaceted role of institutions in the innovative process, and on the contingencies governing any given institution/innovation mix.
Survey Research Methodology in Management Information Systems: An Assessment. (Journal of Management Information Systems, 1993)
Authors: Abstract:
    Survey research is believed to be well understood and applied by management information systems (MIS) scholars. It has been applied for several years and it has precise procedures which, when followed closely, yield valid and easily interpretable data. Our assessment of the use of survey research in the MIS field between 1980 and 1990 indicates that this perception is at odds with reality. Our analysis indicates that survey methodology is often misapplied and is plagued by five important weaknesses: (1) single-method designs where multiple methods are needed, (2) unsystematic and often inadequate sampling procedures, (3) low response rates, (4) weak linkages between units of analysis and respondents, and (5) overreliance on cross-sectional surveys where longitudinal surveys are really needed. Our assessment also shows that the quality of survey research varies considerably among studies of different purposes: explanatory studies are of good quality overall, exploratory and descriptive studies are of moderate to poor quality. This article presents a general framework for classifying and examining survey research and uses this framework to analyze the usage of survey research conducted in the past decade in the MIS field. In an effort to improve the quality of survey research, this article makes specific recommendations that directly address the major problems highlighted in the review.
The Usefulness of Computer-Based Information to Public Managers. (MIS Quarterly, 1993)
Authors: Abstract:
    This study uses data from 260 public managers to assess two broad images of the potential of information technology and computer-based information (CBl) to serve public managers: the "knowledge executive" and the "CBl consumer." The data were collected as part of a longitudinal study of computer use in more than 40 U.S. cities conducted in 1976 and again in 1988. The results show that computer-based information is important for most managers, and many report they are extremely dependent upon it. Also, the managers currently find the information more valuable for control of financial resources than for management of operations. Furthermore, among four sets of factors that might account for differences in the usefulness of computer-based information to managers, quality and accessibility of the information and the manager's style of use are particularly important. Finally, managers who are most satisfied with the usefulness of computer-based information are those who use support staff to mediate their computer-based information environment, rather than those who use the computer to access information directly. Such indirect use of computing might be the most appropriate mode for many contemporary managers. Therefore, the focus of design efforts for information systems for managers should be as much on these intermediaries as on the executives themselves.
The Impact of Information Technology on Middle Managers. (MIS Quarterly, 1993)
Authors: Abstract:
    This article reviews studies that examine the impact of information technology (IT) on the number of middle managers in organizations. Contradictory evidence is found to suggest, paradoxically, that IT both increases and decreases the number of the middle managers. This "empirical paradox" is resolved by looking at the effects of IT on middle managers as contingent upon the degree of centralization of computing decisions, and of organizational decisions more broadly. When both computing decisions and organizational decisions are centralized, top managers tend to use IT to reduce the number of middle managers. When these decisions are decentralized, middle managers use IT to increase their numbers. A recent case study provides preliminary support for this perspective by showing an interesting case of reduction in middle managers.