Using Skewness and Kurtosis Coefficients of Industry Samples of IT Managerial Control Ratios for Analyzing Competitive Dynamics in Relation to IT Spending

摘要

Competing firms comprise an intricately linked ecosystem where behaviors of firms are monitored, analyzed and responded to by other firms. With the increasing strategic importance of IT across industries, there is a growing need for organizations to understand competitive behaviors of other firms in relation to IT. This article explains and demonstrates how skewness and kurtosis coefficients of industry samples of IT managerial control ratios can be used for measuring and interpreting industry competitive dynamics in relation to IT spending. Drawing on the Resource-Based View of the firm and IT Strategy literature, the study conceptualizes skewness and kurtosis within industry samples and formulates specific hypotheses using these measures. These hypotheses are empirically confirmed using a large sample of IT managerial control ratios. Thus, this study provided preliminary evidence on the usefulness of the two proposed measures in understanding competitive dynamics within industries in relation to IT spending.