A hybrid performance measure system for e-business investments in high-tech manufacturing: An empirical study

For over a decade, empirical studies examining organizational performance of IT investment have been far from conclusive. An issue that has led to the ongoing debate is inadequate methodology applied in measuring IT values. The traditional measures have been focused on financial ones such as return on investment and return on sales. Researchers therefore suggested the need to use more non-financial measures; however, there appeared to be little agreement on precisely which ones to use. Empirical studies also showed the limitations with only a single organization-level measure. A more complete assessment might simultaneously involve the measures from several levels of organizational hierarchy. Besides, benefits from IT investment may be realized over an extended period of time. Therefore, this study proposed an integrative assessment framework based on a three-level structure of organizational hierarchy, such as corporate strategies, manufacturing decisions, and operational activities, with the effect of time lag. The performances of corporate strategies will be examined over a recent three-year time period, manufacturing decisions over a recent two-year time period, and operational activities over a recent one-year time period. Finally, this framework was verified by a survey study of large sample size. The results reported that the effect of time tag on the performance measures of corporate strategies was significant and the relationship between performance measures of corporate strategies and operational activities was significant.