Information Technology and Process Performance: An Empirical Investigation of the Complementarities between IT and Non-IT Resources

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, which has emerged as a potential integrating paradigm for strategy research, this research proposes and tests an integrated framework to explain how IT may influence firm performance. The framework recognizes that IT is most likely to affect a firm’s performance through its impact on intermediate processes, and draws on resource-based theory to examine how IT resources and capabilities can create business value and provide a competitive advantage. Specifically, we develop hypotheses regarding the differential and complementary role of various IT resources and non-IT (Human and Business) resources and capabilities in achieving quality customer-centric focus for the firm, a critical cross-functional intermediate performance metric. These hypotheses are currently being empirically tested in the context of the third party logistics (3PL) industry, in which this customer focus is widely perceived as being strategically important with IT playing a significant, if not pivotal role. The potential contributions of the work are discussed.