Research at the University of Texas at Austin for financial support. Prabhudev Konana

The extent of organizational innovation with IT, an important construct in the IT innovation literature, has been measured in many different ways. Some measures are more narrowly focused while others aggregate innovative behaviors across a set of innovations or across stages in the assimilation lifecycle within organizations. There appear to be some significant tradeoffs involving aggregation. More aggregated measures can be more robust and generalizable and can promote stronger predictive validity, while less aggregated measures allow more context-specific investigations and can preserve clearer theoretical interpretations. This article begins with a conceptual analysis that identifies the circumstances when these tradeoffs are most likely to favor aggregated measures. It is found that aggregation should be favorable when: (1) the researcher's interest is in general innovation or a model that generalizes to a class of innovations, (2) antecedents have effects in the same direction in all assimilation stages, (3) characteristics of organizations can be treated as constant across the innovations in the study, (4) characteristics of innovations can not be treated as constant across organizations in the study, (5) the set of innovations being aggregated includes substitutes or moderate complements, and (6) sources of noise in the measurement of innovation may be present. The article then presents an empirical study using data on the adoption of software process technologies by 608 US based corporations. This study—which had circumstances quite favorable to aggregation—found that aggregating across three innovations within a technology class more than doubled the variance explained compared to single innovation models. Aggregating across assimilation stages had a slight positive effect on predictive validity. Taken together, these results provide initial confirmation of the conclusions from the conceptual analysis regarding the circumstances favoring aggregation.

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Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to investigate and identify the main determinants of successful knowledge management (KM) programs. We draw upon the institutional theory and the theory of technology assimilation to develop an integrative model of KM success that clarifies the role of information technology (IT) in relation to other important KM infrastructural capabilities and to KM process capabilities. We argue that the role of IT cannot be studied in isolation and that the effect of IT on KM success is fully mediated by KM process capabilities. The research model is tested with a survey study involving 191 KM practitioners. The empirical results provided strong support for the model. In addition to its theoretical contributions, this study also presents important practical implications through the identification of specific infrastructural capabilities leading to KM success.

The increase in the number of industry-sponsored credential programs raises many questions for career and technical education. This study investigated the perceived influence of industry-sponsored credentials on the recruitment process in the information technology (IT) field. Influence is examined from the perspective of Human Resource (HR) executives and their current IT employees to explore employer and employee differences in the role industry sponsored credentials and traditional education qualifications play in the recruiting process. Surveys were administered to HR executives and IT employees in a sample of large U.S. firms. Results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between employers and IT employees regarding the perceived influence of industry-sponsored credentials on recruitment. However, significant differences were found in the perceived influence of such credentials on the recruitment process when comparing IT employees with credentials and those without. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for researchers, career and technology education policy makers, and educators.

systems issues and strategy, technology adoption and e-government in the Caribbean region.

The prioritization of information systems projects is a function of the strategic vision of the organization. We develop a model of the IT selection process that is based upon the influence of strategic vision. Strategic vision influences both the type of projects considered, the resources allocated to information systems, and the processes and mechanisms for justifying IT investments. Two of the processes that influence the final project selection are the reporting structure of the IS organization and the involvement of a steering committee for investment prioritization. We suggest that this influences the criteria used to make IT investment decisions. 1.

Information technology (IT) management capabilities have been noted in prior research as having a significant impact on firm performance. However, it is not clear how these capabilities impact firm performance. This research focuses in particular on one salient IT management capability, viz., IT infrastructure capability, and develops a conceptual model linking IT infrastructure capability with firm performance. The model identifies three dynamic capabilities that mediate the links between IT infrastructure capability and firm performance: customer and market focus, process management, and performance management capability. Data from 134 firm and business units is utilized to empirically evaluate the hypotheses derived from this model. The results provide compelling evidence for the mediating effects of these dynamic capabilities. Further, our empirical tests suggest that the mediated effects model is has more validity than a model that posits direct impacts of IT infrastructure capabilities on firm performance. These results have significant implications for future research and practice on how IT management capabilities contribute to the development of business capabilities and enhancement of

www.elsevier.com/locate/infoandorg Rules of the game: constructing norms of influence, subordination and constraint in IT planning

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