Graduation Semester and Year
Summer 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Management Science
Department
Information Systems and Operations Management
First Advisor
Jaehoon Kim
Second Advisor
Saurabh Ambulkar
Third Advisor
Mahmut Yasar
Fourth Advisor
Edmund Prater
Abstract
In recent decades, firms have increasingly invested in information technology (IT) to create new opportunities for business value creation and operational efficiency. This dissertation explores the implications of IT investments, specifically by investigating the effect of a buyer firm’s investment in IT infrastructure on its managerial ability. The econometric analyses using a dyadic panel dataset of buyer-supplier relationships reveal a J-shaped relationship between IT infrastructure investment and firm managerial ability. Initial levels of IT investments are associated with decreases in managerial efficiency due to implementation challenges, but higher levels of investments yield significant improvements in decision-making and strategic alignment.
Moreover, the analyses indicate that a supplier firm’s IT infrastructure investment moderates this non-linear relationship between a buyer firm’s IT infrastructure investment and its managerial ability. Further analysis shows that these relationships are contingent on the knowledge-intensiveness of the buyer firm’s industry, with stronger effects observed in knowledge-intensive industries. These findings advance the understanding of how managerial practices and decisions are influenced by investments in IT infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of taking buyers’ and suppliers’ IT capabilities into account when developing a strategic planning approach.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kim, Jaehoon; Ambulkar, Saurabh; Yasar, Mahmut; and Prater, Edmund, "Firm Managerial Capability and IT Infrastructure Investment: The Moderating Roles of Supplier's IT Infrastructure Investment and Knowledge Intensiveness of Buyer Firm's Industry" (2025). Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations. 77.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/infosystemsopmanage_dissertations/77