IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v144y2022icp358-365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do IT investments interact with other resources to improve innovation?

Author

Listed:
  • Orozco, Luis Antonio
  • Sanabria, John Alirio
  • Sosa, Juan Camilo
  • Aristizabal, Jeimy
  • López, Liliana

Abstract

Skilled labor, R&D, and knowledge-based inter-organizational networks are important resources for innovation. The relationship between information technology (IT) investments and innovation outcomes is less well understood. It is unclear whether IT investments act as substitutes for or complements of these other resources to create innovation capabilities, and how such relationships play out over time. Based on panel data from 393 Colombian manufacturing firms between 2009 and 2017, we found that while IT investments alone do not improve innovation performance over time, they do when they are combined with the presence of an R&D unit. Furthermore, we found that IT investments substitute for (rather than complement) skilled labor to improve innovation performance over time and that their interaction with networks does not significantly affect innovation performance. Our findings contribute to the innovation literature on dynamic capabilities in understanding the role of IT in the combination of resources from a longitudinal perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Orozco, Luis Antonio & Sanabria, John Alirio & Sosa, Juan Camilo & Aristizabal, Jeimy & López, Liliana, 2022. "How do IT investments interact with other resources to improve innovation?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 358-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:144:y:2022:i:c:p:358-365
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829632200090X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.078?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Surendra Gera & Wulong Gu, 2004. "The Effect of Organizational Innovation and Information and Communications Technology on Firm Performance," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 9, pages 37-51, Fall.
    2. Aboal, Diego & Tacsir, Ezequiel, 2015. "Innovation and Productivity in Services and Manufacturing: The Role of ICT Investment," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7381, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Juan M. Gallego & Luis H. Gutiérrez & Sang H. Lee, 2015. "A firm-level analysis of ICT adoption in an emerging economy: evidence from the Colombian manufacturing industries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(1), pages 191-221.
    4. Teece, David J., 2018. "Profiting from innovation in the digital economy: Enabling technologies, standards, and licensing models in the wireless world," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1367-1387.
    5. Daron Acemoglu & David Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson & Brendan Price, 2014. "Return of the Solow Paradox? IT, Productivity, and Employment in US Manufacturing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 394-399, May.
    6. Gianmario Verona & Davide Ravasi, 2003. "Unbundling dynamic capabilities: an exploratory study of continuous product innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 12(3), pages 577-606, June.
    7. Anitesh Barua & Charles H. Kriebel & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 1995. "Information Technologies and Business Value: An Analytic and Empirical Investigation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 3-23, March.
    8. Sinan Aral & Erik Brynjolfsson & Marshall Van Alstyne, 2012. "Information, Technology, and Information Worker Productivity," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(3-part-2), pages 849-867, September.
    9. Bronwyn H. Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 300-328, April.
    10. Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1993. "In search of useful theory of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 108-108, April.
    11. Gu, Wulong Gera, Surendra, 2004. "The Effect of Organizational Innovation and Information Technology on Firm Performance," The Canadian Economy in Transition 2004007e, Statistics Canada, Economic Analysis Division.
    12. Partha, Dasgupta & David, Paul A., 1994. "Toward a new economics of science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 487-521, September.
    13. Vincenzo Spiezia, 2011. "Are ICT Users More Innovative?: an Analysis of ICT-Enabled Innovation in OECD Firms," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2011(1), pages 1-21.
    14. Aboal D. & Tacsir E., 2015. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing : The role of ICT investment," MERIT Working Papers 012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2003. "Computing Productivity: Firm-Level Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 793-808, November.
    16. Croissant, Yves & Millo, Giovanni, 2008. "Panel Data Econometrics in R: The plm Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 27(i02).
    17. Anker Lund Vinding, 2006. "Absorptive capacity and innovative performance: A human capital approach," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 507-517.
    18. Atzeni, Gianfranco E. & Carboni, Oliviero A., 2006. "ICT productivity and firm propensity to innovative investment: Evidence from Italian microdata," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 139-156, June.
    19. Croissant, Yves & Millo, Giovanni, 2008. "Panel Data Econometrics in R: The plm Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 27(i02).
    20. Yunis, Manal & Tarhini, Abbas & Kassar, Abdulnasser, 2018. "The role of ICT and innovation in enhancing organizational performance: The catalysing effect of corporate entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 344-356.
    21. Teece, David J, 2018. "Dynamic capabilities as (workable) management systems theory," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 359-368, May.
    22. Prasanna Tambe & Lorin M. Hitt & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2012. "The Extroverted Firm: How External Information Practices Affect Innovation and Productivity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(5), pages 843-859, May.
    23. Thomas Hempell & Thomas Zwick, 2008. "New Technology, Work Organisation, And Innovation," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 331-354.
    24. Marotta, Daniela & Mark, Michael & Blom, Andreas & Thorn, Kristian, 2007. "Human capital and university-industry linkages'role in fostering firm innovation : an empirical study of Chile and Colombia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4443, The World Bank.
    25. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    26. Prasanna Tambe & Lorin M. Hitt, 2012. "The Productivity of Information Technology Investments: New Evidence from IT Labor Data," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(3-part-1), pages 599-617, September.
    27. Spyros Arvanitis & Euripidis N. Loukis & Vasiliki Diamantopoulou, 2016. "Are ICT, Workplace Organization, and Human Capital Relevant for Innovation? A Comparative Swiss/Greek Study," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 319-349, September.
    28. Indiran Poobalan Naidoo & Muhammad Hoque, 2018. "Impact of information technology on innovation in determining firm performance," African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(6), pages 643-653, September.
    29. Frank T. Rothaermel & Andrew M. Hess, 2007. "Building Dynamic Capabilities: Innovation Driven by Individual-, Firm-, and Network-Level Effects," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(6), pages 898-921, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. El¿bieta Roszko-Wójtowicz & Barbara Dañska-Borsiak & Maria M. Grzelak & Aleksandra Pleœniarska, 2022. "In search of key determinants of innovativeness in the regions of the Visegrad group countries," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(4), pages 1015-1045, December.
    2. Tan, Qijia & Li, Cuilan & Qin, Zhaohui & Yu, Siming & Pan, Yuchen & Andrianarimanana, Mihasina Harinaivo, 2023. "Impact of fiscal education expenditure on innovation of local listed enterprises: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefan Schweikl & Robert Obermaier, 2020. "Lessons from three decades of IT productivity research: towards a better understanding of IT-induced productivity effects," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(4), pages 461-507, November.
    2. Eric J. Bartelsman & Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten & Michael Polder, 2019. "Productivity, technological innovations and broadband connectivity: firm-level evidence for ten European countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(1), pages 25-48, March.
    3. Adel Ben Khalifa, 2019. "Direct and Complementary Effects of Investment in Knowledge-Based Economy on Innovation Performance in Tunisian Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 561-589, June.
    4. Abel Duarte Alonso & Seng K. Kok & Seamus O'Brien, 2019. "Understanding Approaches To Innovation Through The Dynamic Capabilities Lens: A Multi-Country Study Of The Wine Industry," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(06), pages 1-30, August.
    5. Roberto Álvarez, 2016. "The Impact of R&D and ICT Investment on Innovation and Productivity in Chilean Firms," Working Papers wp428, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    6. Aboal D. & Tacsir E., 2015. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing : The role of ICT investment," MERIT Working Papers 2015-012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    7. Nucci, Francesco & Puccioni, Chiara & Ricchi, Ottavio, 2023. "Digital technologies and productivity: A firm-level investigation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    8. Koutroumpis, Pantelis & Leiponen, Aija & Thomas, Llewellyn D W, 2017. "The Young, the Old and the Innovative: The Impact of R&D on Firm Performance in ICT versus Other Sectors," ETLA Working Papers 51, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    9. Alhassan Abdul-Wakeel Karakara & Evans Osabuohien, 2020. "ICT adoption, competition and innovation of informal firms in West Africa: a comparative study of Ghana and Nigeria," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(3), pages 397-414, June.
    10. Prasanna Tambe & Lorin M. Hitt, 2014. "Job Hopping, Information Technology Spillovers, and Productivity Growth," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(2), pages 338-355, February.
    11. Greenstein, Shane & Nagle, Frank, 2014. "Digital dark matter and the economic contribution of Apache," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 623-631.
    12. Prasanna Tambe, 2014. "Big Data Investment, Skills, and Firm Value," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1452-1469, June.
    13. Wang, Nan & Wan, Jiahao & Ma, Zhenzhong & Zhou, Yan & Chen, Jin, 2023. "How digital platform capabilities improve sustainable innovation performance of firms: The mediating role of open innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    14. Sarbu, Miruna, 2022. "The impact of industry 4.0 on innovation performance: Insights from German manufacturing and service firms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    15. Polák, Petr, 2017. "The productivity paradox: A meta-analysis," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 38-54.
    16. Gallipoli, Giovanni & Makridis, Christos A., 2018. "Structural transformation and the rise of information technology," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 91-110.
    17. Shen, Rui & Guo, Hai & Ma, Hongjia, 2023. "How do entrepreneurs' cross-cultural experiences contribute to entrepreneurial ecosystem performance?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    18. Konings, Jozef & Dhyne, Emmanuel & Van den bosch, Jeroen & ,, 2018. "The Return on Information Technology: Who Benefits Most?," CEPR Discussion Papers 13246, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Tom Fangyun Tan & Serguei Netessine, 2020. "At Your Service on the Table: Impact of Tabletop Technology on Restaurant Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4496-4515, October.
    20. Soluk, Jonas & Decker-Lange, Carolin & Hack, Andreas, 2023. "Small steps for the big hit: A dynamic capabilities perspective on business networks and non-disruptive digital technologies in SMEs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:144:y:2022:i:c:p:358-365. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.