The Organizational Impact of Information Technology Fashion

This study examines some of the important organizational consequences of the fashion phenomenon in information technology. An IT fashion is an information technology transitorily collectively believed as new, efficient, and at the forefront of practice. Using data collected from published discourse and annual corporate IT budgets, I have found that companies associated with IT fashions did not have higher performance, but they had better reputation and higher executive compensation in the near term. Companies investing in fashionable IT had lower performance in a short term, but improved their performance later. These findings are expected to add valuable insights to IT innovation research more broadly. The study will also help managers balance between the pressure for performance and the need for social approval when they confront whatever is hottest in IT.