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Title: IS Support for Top Managers' Dynamic Capabilities, Environmental Dynamism, and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation

Authors: Michael J. Zhang

Addresses: Author address listing can be found in the "About the Authors" section at the end of the article.

Abstract: Despite a continual interest in developing information systems (IS) to support the work of top managers, assessing the impact of IS support for top managers and their capabilities on the bottom-line performance of firms has received little attention in existing literature. Drawing upon the resourcebased view of competitive advantage, this paper argues that firms that provide IS support for their top managers' dynamic capabilities may enjoy competitive advantage and superior firm performance. The performance impact of IS support for two key dynamic capabilities of top managers (fast response and mental model building) under different (dynamic vs. stable) external environments was then examined and assessed with both survey and archival data. The results show that IS support for the fast response capability of top managers improved both profitability and labor productivity in a dynamic external environment. On the other hand, the study did not find either direct or indirect effects of IS support for the mentalmodel building capability of top managers.

Keywords: Dynamic capabilities; environmental dynamism; firm performance; information systems; competitive advantage.

DOI: 10.1504/JBM.2007.141150

Journal of Business and Management, 2007 Vol.13 No.1, pp.57 - 77

Published online: 05 Sep 2024 *