Understanding the Information Technology Innovation Impact on Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation

摘要

This study revisits the impact of IT innovation on firm performance using the Information Week 500 databases and tests the robustness of innovation theory. Using the most recent dataset, this study not only compares performance of IT innovators with average industry performance but also compares it with a firm in the same industry and of similar size. It also compares performance of IT innovators from IT strategic industries with IT innovators from non-IT strategic industries. As expected, IT innovators performed better than the control group of all other firms within the same industry. However, there was no statistical difference between IT innovators and the control group of firms within the same industry and comparable size. IT innovators from transformational industries also fared better than IT innovators from either informate or automates industries. Therefore, our study confirms the strategic role of IT is an important factor on firm performance.