Intermediate Performance Impacts of Advanced Manufacturing Technology Systems: An Empirical Investigation*

A large-scale random sample is used to empirically examine the relationships between implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and three organization-level measures that have historically been attributed to AMT, but not fully tested along the AMT spectrum: market-oriented flexibility of the production process, organizational integration of production processes, and administrative intensity of the organization. Results indicate that as an organization moves along the technology scale from stand-alone AMT (e.g., CNC machines) through functionally oriented AMT (FMS and CAM) toward CIM, not only do its production processes become more integrated with each other, but those processes become more integrated with other functional systems of the organization, and the quality and timeliness of production information increase. Furthermore, this relationship becomes stronger as companies increase their level of implementation for the latter two technologies. Conversely, market-oriented flexibility decreases and administrative intensity is not observed to change as companies move along the technology spectrum. Future research should examine how organizational redesign and implementation strategies that accompany AMT implementation can concomitantly enhance organizational integration of the production process and market-oriented flexibility.     

Marketing Is from Mars,IT Is from Venus: Aligning the Worldviews for Firm Performance

A typical firm is operated by multiple functional managers who may collaborate as well as compete to achieve firm performance. In the digital age, firm performance is essentially customer‐dependent and technology‐dependent, with both marketing and information technology (IT) playing key roles. Unfortunately the two functions often have very different worldviews. We show how these differences can damage firm performance, and suggest ways to mitigate this damage. We build a worldview difference model, synthesized from multiple disciplines. The model is tested using both matched and nonmatched observations from marketing and IT managers, and is analyzed with hierarchical linear models using both perceptual and objective firm performance data over a 4‐year period. We find that differences between the beliefs and perceptions of marketing managers and IT managers generate a negative impact on firm performance, and suggest appropriate technology‐culture associations to effectively align their worldviews for firm performance. To improve firm performance, a cross‐functional appreciation for market and technology drivers can be achieved by making marketing managers more learning‐oriented and by providing IT managers a culture that is congruent with technology.     

A Performance Measure for Software Reuse Projects

The efficient development of software has become a critical factor to the success of many organizations. Significant competitive advantage can be realized by reducing the time to complete software development, while maintaining or improving quality levels. Project management activities, including the measurement of performance at the level of the project, can help the organization to both control projects and learn from experience. Traditionally, the productivity of a software development project has been measured as the complexity of code produced per unit of labor involved. An increasing number of organizations, however, are adopting the practice of software reuse, and under such conditions, such a traditional measure of productivity does not fully capture all the relevant elements of the reuse-driven development environment. This research develops a new performance measure that considers four major components of performance: productivity associated with development of new code, productivity associated with the reuse of previously written code, quality of the reuse decision, and relative value of reuse to the company. To illustrate the feasibility of the measure, a real-world productivity assessment is presented for an example company, and related implementation issues are discussed.     

Drivers and mechanisms for online communities performance: A systematic literature review

The health crisis has highlighted online communities' interest and effectiveness in connecting isolated people in response to urgent problems or to recreate social links. However, despite much research over the last 30 years, there is no global vision regarding the conditions and processes that act on such communities’ dynamism and allow them to reach their objectives. In other words, the conditions for online community performance have not been fully investigated. Online community performance relies on the presence of mechanisms such as socialisation, structuring, participation, commitment and common motivations. Those mechanisms are favoured by a multitude of drivers identified in the literature. This paper is aimed at presenting the current state of research on the conditions that affect online community performance. We conducted a systematic literature review of 529 sources and identified, through a selection of 178 articles, the dimensions where the understanding of performance is rarer, such as drivers related to contributions and those affecting the common motivation mechanism.     

Integrating Knowledge through Information Trading: Examining the Relationship between Boundary Spanning Communication and Individual Performance*

With the global penetration of Internet technologies, individuals may now cross organizational boundaries to communicate efficiently with others regardless of time and space. Thus, when looking for help in solving work tasks, knowledge workers may just as easily contact individuals in rival firms across the globe as a coworker sitting at the next desk. As a result, management faces questions such as (1) How should firms manage employees' knowledge‐sourcing activities when they span both intra‐organizational and extra‐organizational boundaries, and (2) What is the relationship between different knowledge‐sourcing activities and individual performance? Grounded in the knowledge‐based view of the firm, we investigate these questions using data from Europe's largest information technology (IT) services and management consulting company. Our results provide evidence that organizations should support boundary spanning and knowledge sourcing from both internal and external sources. Results suggest (1) a positive relationship between boundary spanning communication and creativity and general performance, and (2) a negative relationship between a reliance on colocated coworkers as knowledge sources and creativity.     

Effects of constructive politics and market turbulence on entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship: A moderated mediation model

The study examines the interaction effects of constructive politics and market turbulence on the entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship. The proposed structural model tests the mediating role of constructive politics between the entrepreneurial orientation and performance constructs and the moderation effect of market turbulence on this mediating relationship. Data were collected from 145 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates. The results suggest that entrepreneurial orientation indirectly affects performance through constructive politics. Furthermore, the results indicate that the relationship between constructive politics and the firm's performance was stronger during low market turbulence. Findings suggest that entrepreneurial-oriented SMEs should embrace constructive politics where influence and power can be channeled to enhance financial performance, especially in market stability.     

Replication of Measures in Information Systems Research: The Case of IS SERVQUAL*

The Information Systems (IS) discipline should recognize potential pitfalls in replication of research studies. This response to a note appearing in this issue by Van Dyke, Prybutok, and Kappelman (1999) aims to serve two purposes. First, this note will address the problems we have with the Van Dyke et al. (1999) attempted replication of our own previous work. Second, we hope it serves to establish more generally an awareness in the IS field for the potential to create and accept the “illusion of replicability” when this has not really been established.