Information Technology and Internal Firm Organization: An Exploratory Analysis.

Author List: Hitt, Lorin M.; Brynjolfsson, Erik;

Journal of Management Information Systems, 1997, Volume 14, Issue 2, Page 81-101.

This paper examines the relationship between information technology (IT) and the organizational architecture of firms. Firms that are extensive users of information technology tend to adopt a complementary set of organizational practices that include: decentralization of decision authority, emphasis on subjective incentives, and a greater reliance on skills and human capital. We explore these relationships using detailed data on work systems and information technology spending for 273 large firms. Overall, we find that increased investment in IT is linked to a system of decentralized authority and related practices. Our findings may help resolve some of the questions about the relationships of information technology to internal organization and provide insight into the optimal organization of knowledge work.

Keywords: information;information technology incentives;organizational architecture;overload;technology usage

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List of Topics

#271	0.464	technology investments investment information firm firms profitability value performance impact data higher evidence diversification industry payoff return findings decisions greater
#277	0.144	structure organization structures organizational centralized decentralized study organizations forms decentralization processing communication sharing cbis activities appropriate provide identify organizing communications
#276	0.110	satisfaction information systems study characteristics data results using user related field survey empirical quality hypotheses important success various indicate tested