Evaluating the impact of IT investments on productivity: a causal analysis at industry level

How Can Information Technology Use Improve Construction Labor Productivity? An Empirical Analysis from China

Labor productivity is a significant indicator to measure the sustainable development potential and competitiveness of the construction industry. Under the background of the integration of global construction industry and information and communication technology (ICT), the pursuit of the growth of construction labor productivity (CLP) requires deepened understanding of how these technological advancements characterized by ICT take effect in the change of CLP as well as what the key factors are that led to the variation of CLP at this stage. The paper aims to investigate the effect of ICT progress on CLP and examine the key factors influencing CPL. Based on the data of 31 regions from the China Construction Industry Statistical Yearbook and the Local Statistical Yearbook during the period 2000–2018, this study proposed new methodology (Cobb–Douglas production function, growth rate model, and Malmquist Data Envelopment Analysis) for measuring the technology progress contribution and identified the key factors affecting the change of CLP. The analysis results illustrate that the information technology progress has a significant contribution to CLP growth, but the contribution rate is decreasing with the growing degree of development of the regional construction industry. Three main factors affecting the further improvement of CLP have been identified: human resources, research and development (R&D) investment, and ICT level. The findings can provide the decision-making reference and the general methodology for the local and international industry practitioners to improve the labor productivity performance of the construction sector.

Achieving Dynamic Capabilities Through the Benefits Management Approach

The IS/IT has played a key role in the improvement of business strategies and in changing skills and organizational capabilities. However, the promised benefits of these investments have been difficult to monitor, implement and account for. Benefits Management (BM) is becoming an increasingly important approach for projects which implement IS/IT investments. The authors' motivation was answer to the following research question: How BM can help organizations obtain the Dynamic Capabilities (DC) required to meet the growing market challenges? This paper proposes a framework for assisting organizations identify and monitor the benefits of IS/IT investments, and for leveraging through IS/IT the internal changes necessary to quickly respond to the demands presented by the dynamic business environment. The authors' research approach explored an enriched single case study. They conducted an in-depth and multi-faceted exploration, collecting and using data from documentation, archival records, interviews, direct and participant observations.

IT investment and constraints in developing countries

Due to the rapid changes in technology, competition, and globalization, information has become businesses’ most significant asset. IT has become indispensible for modern businesses because it helps shape and support competitive strategies. Investment in IT seems to be even more critical for any developing country in order to enhance its economic development. This paper aims at investigating constraints and determining factors of IT-related investment in a developing country by using Thailand as a case study. A survey of manufacturing data shows that the most critical constraint obstructing Thai manufacturers from investing in their IT-related needs is the lack of IT human resources, which includes lack of knowledgeable and trained IT personnel and lack of experienced consultants to provide IT-based solution systems. The association between a higher level of IT skill among production workers and a firms’ investing in IT is found to be positively significant. Thus, providing training courses in IT-related skills should therefore be considered a necessary option. However, evidence from surveys shows that IT training courses have received less recognition among those manufacturers, for both in-house training as well as outside training. Promoting research partnerships and providing incentive for both R&D and E-commerce promotion are found also to be effective policy options.

Building information modelling and its effect on off-site construction in UK civil engineering

In 2011, the UK government mandated that, by March 2016, all public-sector construction projects would be undertaken within a three-dimensional building information model (BIM) environment. This has caused both construction procurers and providers to embark on a journey towards universal BIM adoption, including the integration of BIM within a revised construction process. In addition, off-site construction has seen significant development in the building sector in the past decade; however, in infrastructure, off-site constructionoff-site construction exploitation has been more limited. This paper presents findings from UK-focused research into how innovation initiatives such as BIM and off-site construction can and need to be considered together, thus allowing leaner design, a greater integration of lifetime project data and more novel technical solutions. Key themes that emerged from the thematic analysis of the interviews show the importance of configuration and interface management; information data flow; project management and delivery; procurement and contracts. The analysis outlines the benefits of utilising off-site construction within a BIM environment, the challenges currently facing the supply chain, and recommendations are made as to how best to implement the emergent benefits.

The Resource-Based View of IT Business Value: Complementary Investments or Embedded Knowledge?

This paper tests a primary postulate of the Resource-Based View (RBV) of Information Technology (IT) business value. From this perspective, IT is not rare but pervasive, and it is only the combination of investments with other resources that makes the investment inimitable. Therefore, the effect of IT on firm performance cannot be direct effects, but rather firm performance can only be affected when IT expenditures are combined with other investments. This study tests this theory using panel data of large firms spanning seven years. Firm-level data is gathered from Compustat and matched to Information Systems (IS) Budget data. The results do not support the RBV postulate that IT Expenditure cannot have direct competitive advantage but must be combined with expenditure on other assets to effect firm performance. Instead, the results support the opposing hypotheses: IT expenditure and capital expenditures have independent, direct effects on firm revenue as well as firm profit, even in the presence of the interaction variable. The results imply that IT investments may be a source of direct competitive advantage, unlike the postulate of the RBV theorists. This may be because an IT system has embedded knowledge and creates knowledge, making it rare and imperfectly imitable. Rather than investing in generic IT systems and trying to obtain uniqueness from investments in complementary resources, firms can try embedding firm-specific knowledge when designing or modifying their systems and using their systems to create knowledge. This is the first study to test the RBV postulate that value from IT comes only with the combination of IT investments and investments in other assets and not from direct effects. By disproving this postulate, this study opens the door to new hypotheses based on knowledge in and from IT systems.

Investimentos em tecnologia da informação e impactos na produtividade empresarial: uma análise empírica à luz do paradoxo da produtividade

Este trabalho objetivou testar a ocorrência do Paradoxo da Produtividade em uma amostra de empresas brasileiras; este Paradoxo estabelece que os acréscimos nos investimentos em tecnologia da informação não são acompanhados por acréscimos na produtividade das empresas. A partir de uma amostra de 429 observações de 98 empresas brasileiras que, no período de 2000 a 2006, faturaram cerca de US$ 856 bilhões e operaram investimentos em tecnologia da informação de US$ 12,9 bilhões, foi testado um modelo baseado na função de produção de Cobb-Douglas, que apresentou indícios de que o acréscimo neste tipo de investimento foi acompanhado de um acréscimo positivo nas receitas. O trabalho mostrou, ainda, indícios de que houve eficiência marginal nos investimentos em tecnologia da informação e de que a relação entre as receitas e o número de funcionários empregados em TI alcançou um aparente ponto de saturação. Na análise dos resultados foram identificados comportamentos distintos entre os setores analisados e nas conclusões foram apresentados exemplos de como os resultados poderiam ser aplicados no suporte ao processo decisório do planejamento de investimentos e de estratégias de negócios em tecnologia da informação.