The Economic Performance Of In-house IT And Standard IT

The influence of information technology(IT)investment on productivity is one of the key research focuses in the field of information systems.However,most research considers information technology as an aggregation,and few studies discuss how different types of information technology influence productivity separately.Therefore,this paper divides information technology into two types:standard IT and in-house IT.We propose that the influences of standard IT and in-house IT on industry labor productivity are different.Also,we introduce two elements of the IT environment:IT intensity and IT investment opportunities.We propose that the two factors have moderating effects on the relations between standard/in-house IT investment and labor productivity.This thesis uses the annual industry data published by the U.S.Bureau of Economic Analysis(BEA)to test these hypotheses.The results show that standard IT has a greater influence on industry labor productivity than in-house IT.In addition,both industry IT intensity and IT investment opportunities moderate the influences of standard IT and in-house IT on industry labor productivity.IT intensity strengthens the influence of standard IT on industry labor productivity,but weakens the influence of in-house IT.IT investment opportunities weaken the influence of standard IT on labor productivity,but strengthen the influence in-house IT.Overall,this thesis provides some new insights to IT productivity research.It also provides managerial implications for information technology investment.