No Rules for Riches? - A Behavioral Perspective of IT Value

In the field of information systems (IS), the value of information technology (IT) to a firm has been primarily studied using economics-based frameworks. The firm has been conceptualized as a production function, a bundle of resources, or a transaction-cost minimizing hierarchy. Although the overall trend in the findings is that IT is performance-enhancing, some studies report surprising results, while others report a positive impact only in the presence of certain contingencies. A key assumption underlying these frameworks is that IT investments are the result of rational decision-making intended to optimize a firm’s performance. I suggest that the mixed results from this perspective are a consequence of the differences between the criteria organizations use when making IT investment decisions and those anticipated by the rational decision-making paradigm. In particular, IT investment decisions are embedded in organizational routines, are the outcome of political processes, and represent fungible resources used for impression management. I build on the results of prior studies by applying concepts from behavioral theories, which have so far been used at the individual or group level in information systems research. Some implications of such a pattern of investment decisions for studying IT value are discussed.