Relationship between ICT Maturity and Global Competitiveness: A Two-Wheel Causality Model

In an era marked by globalization, intense competition and huge advents in information and communication technologies (ICT), many organizations have adopted and deployed ICT applications that would provide them with sustainable global competitive advantages. Most evidence of such ICT impact is at the firm level; the global impact of ICT at the country level has not been studied and incorporated within an integrated theoretical framework. More specifically, questions like: What are the ICT drivers that would help in the attainment of sustainable global competitiveness at the country level, and do different ICT resources lead to different competitiveness levels, or are differences accounted for by other factors – need to be addressed. This paper is an attempt to answer these questions through the development of a model to depict the strategic impact of a country‟s ICT resources on global competitiveness. The two-wheel model is symbolization for a dynamic model where one wheel (a country‟s ICT maturity) pushes the other (Global Competitiveness). The model is based on literature review and study of models provided by previous researchers regarding the impact of ICT on the performance of international firms. The application of the model includes: (a) identification of the strategic ICT factors that would help counties attain better ranks in the global competitiveness spectrum; (b) examining the causality relationship between ICT maturity and global competitiveness; and (c) derivation of global competitiveness rankings for countries based on their ICT maturity levels. This contribution is believed to be useful to practitioners, academicians, and researchers interested in the ICT-Global Competitiveness research stream.