IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elcore/v17y2017i3d10.1007_s10660-016-9248-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of information technology capability on financial performance during the period of economic downturn: the case of Chinese listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Jinnan Wu

    (Anhui University of Technology)

  • Nianxin Wang

    (Jiangsu University of Science and Technology)

  • Zhining Wang

    (China University of Mining and Technology)

Abstract

Several earlier studies validate the positive impact of information technology (IT) capability on firm performance during economic expansion in developed countries. Given sustained IT investments and rapid adoption of various IT in developing countries (e.g. China) in the 2000s, there is a need for new research to test whether prior findings still hold true with up-to-date data from a period of economic downturn in developing countries. Thus, this study attempted to reexamine the linkage between IT capability and financial performance during recent financial crisis in 2008, especially in China context. Our results show that during the period of financial crisis, Chinese firms with superior IT capability tend to outperform a sample of control firms on average profit ratios but not on cost ratios, even after adjusting for prior performance. We also find that the profit performance effects of IT capability can be sustained over a long period of economic downturn. This study contributes to research by extending a different context (i.e. China) from developed countries with new data from economic downturn and providing new finding to reconcile prior research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinnan Wu & Nianxin Wang & Zhining Wang, 2017. "Impact of information technology capability on financial performance during the period of economic downturn: the case of Chinese listed companies," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 403-423, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:17:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-016-9248-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10660-016-9248-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10660-016-9248-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10660-016-9248-1?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. Paul A. Pavlou & Omar A. El Sawy, 2006. "From IT Leveraging Competence to Competitive Advantage in Turbulent Environments: The Case of New Product Development," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 198-227, September.
    2. Kevin Zhu & Kenneth L. Kraemer, 2005. "Post-Adoption Variations in Usage and Value of E-Business by Organizations: Cross-Country Evidence from the Retail Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 61-84, March.
    3. Shunsuke Managi & Shinji Kaneko, 2006. "Economic growth and the environment in China: an empirical analysis of productivity," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(1), pages 89-133.
    4. Sundar Bharadwaj & Anandhi Bharadwaj & Elliot Bendoly, 2007. "The Performance Effects of Complementarities Between Information Systems, Marketing, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain Processes," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 437-453, December.
    5. Jinnan Wu & Lin Liu & Nianxin Wang & Zhining Wang, 2012. "Inter-Organizational IT Capability in China: An Empirical Analysis of Dimensions and Influences," Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO), IGI Global, vol. 10(3), pages 56-71, July.
    6. Nilesh Saraf & Christoph Schlueter Langdon & Sanjay Gosain, 2007. "IS Application Capabilities and Relational Value in Interfirm Partnerships," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 320-339, September.
    7. Sanjeev Dewan & Kenneth L. Kraemer, 2000. "Information Technology and Productivity: Evidence from Country-Level Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 548-562, April.
    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. FeCheng Ma & Farhan Khan & Kashif Ullah Khan & Si XiangYun, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of Information Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Dynamic Capabilities on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    2. Cáudia Pinho & Mário Franco & Luis Mendes, 2022. "Influence of web portals on management support and university performance: an information quality perspective," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3729-3749, October.
    3. Min Fang & Shenggang Yang & Yuliang Lei, 2021. "Residual contagion in emerging markets: ‘herd’ and ‘alarm’ effects in informatization," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 787-807, September.

    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. Chi, Maomao & Wang, Weijun & Lu, Xinyuan & George, Joey F., 2018. "Antecedents and outcomes of collaborative innovation capabilities on the platform collaboration environment," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 273-283.
    2. Côrte-Real, Nadine & Oliveira, Tiago & Ruivo, Pedro, 2017. "Assessing business value of Big Data Analytics in European firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 379-390.
    3. 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.
    4. Zhi (Aaron) Cheng & Min-Seok Pang & Paul A. Pavlou, 2020. "Mitigating Traffic Congestion: The Role of Intelligent Transportation Systems," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 653-674, September.
    5. Claudio Vitari, 2009. "It Dynamic Capability Development In The Context Of Data Genesis Capability," Post-Print hal-00463282, HAL.
    6. Roberts, Nicholas, 2015. "Absorptive capacity, organizational antecedents, and environmental dynamism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2426-2433.
    7. Yen-Chun Chou & Benjamin B. M. Shao, 2023. "An Empirical Study of Information Technology Capabilities to Enable Value Chain Activities and Interfaces," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1533-1547, August.
    8. Rui Bi & Robert M. Davison & Kosmas X. Smyrnios, 2017. "E-business and fast growth SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 559-576, March.
    9. Liu, Sen & Chan, Felix T.S. & Yang, Junai & Niu, Ben, 2018. "Understanding the effect of cloud computing on organizational agility: An empirical examination," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 98-111.
    10. Prasad, Acklesh & Heales, Jon, 2010. "On IT and business value in developing countries: A complementarities-based approach," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 314-335.
    11. Mikalef, Patrick & Pateli, Adamantia, 2017. "Information technology-enabled dynamic capabilities and their indirect effect on competitive performance: Findings from PLS-SEM and fsQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-16.
    12. Zhuo (June) Cheng & Barrie R. Nault, 2012. "Relative Industry Concentration and Customer-Driven IT Spillovers," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 340-355, June.
    13. Ilin, Vladimir & Ivetić, Jelena & Simić, Dragan, 2017. "Understanding the determinants of e-business adoption in ERP-enabled firms and non-ERP-enabled firms: A case study of the Western Balkan Peninsula," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 206-223.
    14. Braojos-Gomez, Jessica & Benitez-Amado, Jose & Javier Llorens-Montes, F., 2015. "How do small firms learn to develop a social media competence?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 443-458.
    15. Han, Jeong Hugh & Wang, Yingli & Naim, Mohamed, 2017. "Reconceptualization of information technology flexibility for supply chain management: An empirical study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 196-215.
    16. Sung Yul Ryoo & Chulmo Koo, 2013. "Green practices-IS alignment and environmental performance: The mediating effects of coordination," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 799-814, November.
    17. Morteza Ghobakhloo & Sai Hong Tang, 2015. "Information system success among manufacturing SMEs: case of developing countries," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 573-600, October.
    18. Jonghak Sun, 2017. "The effect of information technology on IT-facilitated coordination, IT-facilitated autonomy, and decision-makings at the individual level," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 138-155, January.
    19. Abhay Nath Mishra & Ritu Agarwal, 2010. "Technological Frames, Organizational Capabilities, and IT Use: An Empirical Investigation of Electronic Procurement," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 249-270, June.
    20. Elliot Bendoly & Anandhi Bharadwaj & Sundar Bharadwaj, 2012. "Complementary Drivers of New Product Development Performance: Cross‐Functional Coordination, Information System Capability, and Intelligence Quality," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 21(4), pages 653-667, July.

    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:spr:elcore:v:17:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-016-9248-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.