Impact of Information Technology on Iran Distribution Company Performance in View of Organizational Infrastructures

The relationship between information technology investments and firm value as an area of inquiry has sustained interest among IS researchers over the past decade. Based on literature review of published work at corporate level productivity, researchers have developed three different approaches in assessing the correlation between IT implementation and productivity measures. Broadly speaking, the first two approaches focus on the effects of IT investment on direct, intermediary, financial and non-financial measures of productivity. None of these two approaches could positively prove either a direct correlation or lack of such a relation. The third approach, "complementary" approach, considers the IT implementation but emphasizes the role of complementary investments that enhance and complement the IT implementation. Recently, some studies focus on process approach, which emphasized on evaluation of impact of information technologies from process to process capabilities, and from capabilities to performance. However, there has been no well-founded empirical research on process-oriented evaluation of impact of IT simultaneously with considering complementary investment. The current paper aims to evaluate the level of impact of IT on organization process and the effect of these processes on capabilities. Finally, the impact of capability improvement on performance will be assessed. Results show significant relation between process influence, capability improvement and performance upgrading. On the other hand, this research assesses the impact of interaction between IT and organizational infrastructure. Data from 109 distribution companies was gathered in a field survey. The empirical work indicated constructed measures reliability and validity. The findings prove the moderating effect of organizational infrastructure as one of information technology complementary. In addition, by considering process oriented approach, the result of analysis shows the significant influence of IT on operational and managerial processes of organizations while these processes' impression improve capabilities of organizations significantly