Abstract
During the 1970’s and 80’s, the overall productivity within the United States began to slow down despite the rapid development of IT. With this slowdown, organizations all over the world began to question the value that IT brought to organizations. Their rationale was quite simple in the sense that if they invested, for example, a million dollars into infrastructure, computers, software, and personnel, then they expected some form of return on their investment. Otherwise, what would be the point in spending money on something that would bring them closer to bankruptcy instead of higher profits? The early attempts at providing insight into valuing IT proved to be quite difficult for such a simple question. Within a few years and some supporting data, researchers were able to shed some insight into the causes. Their analysis and results supported the understanding that IT did bring value to organizations but further research would be necessary in order to uncover the whole truth. Within the past two decades, the tone around IT's value has been changing from skepticism and disbelief into a fervent following in the necessity of IT in order for businesses to survive. With the success of organizations such as Google, Alibaba, and Amazon, industry experts and organizations all over the world are realizing that IT is no longer an unknown luxury. Some may argue that it has become equivalent to simply doing business or not doing it at all. Our research question aims to shed insight on the dramatic shift from the IT Productivity Paradox to IT Necessity. To be more specific, what IT factors influence increased profitability within organizations.
Recommended Citation
Kim, Kevin; Guerra, Katia; and Bhagat, Sarbottam, "What IT Factors Increase Productivity?" (2019). AMCIS 2019 Proceedings. 16.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2019/strategic_uses_it/strategic_uses_it/16
What IT Factors Increase Productivity?
During the 1970’s and 80’s, the overall productivity within the United States began to slow down despite the rapid development of IT. With this slowdown, organizations all over the world began to question the value that IT brought to organizations. Their rationale was quite simple in the sense that if they invested, for example, a million dollars into infrastructure, computers, software, and personnel, then they expected some form of return on their investment. Otherwise, what would be the point in spending money on something that would bring them closer to bankruptcy instead of higher profits? The early attempts at providing insight into valuing IT proved to be quite difficult for such a simple question. Within a few years and some supporting data, researchers were able to shed some insight into the causes. Their analysis and results supported the understanding that IT did bring value to organizations but further research would be necessary in order to uncover the whole truth. Within the past two decades, the tone around IT's value has been changing from skepticism and disbelief into a fervent following in the necessity of IT in order for businesses to survive. With the success of organizations such as Google, Alibaba, and Amazon, industry experts and organizations all over the world are realizing that IT is no longer an unknown luxury. Some may argue that it has become equivalent to simply doing business or not doing it at all. Our research question aims to shed insight on the dramatic shift from the IT Productivity Paradox to IT Necessity. To be more specific, what IT factors influence increased profitability within organizations.