Revisiting the Concept of IT Capabilities in the Era of Digitalization

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/ReportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Abstract

In the era of digitalization, companies review how to build competitive advantage drawing on their capabilities. In this context, the paper revisits the concept of IT capabilities. We summarize the “canonical” body of literature to characterize how leading scholars conceptualized and differentiated IT capabilities and then we show how new types of IT capabilities (for example, rising from SMACIT technologies) relate to this. We find that the resource-based view is still leading in how to conceptualize IT capabilities. However, an alternative perspective on IT assets is emerging, looking at it from the angle of digital technologies as stacks. Digital technologies form the foundation for a new technology-driven perspective on IT capabilities. This new view complements the established differentiation of IT capabilities considering IT infrastructure flexibility, IT management, and IT personnel capability. Both perspectives describe the explorative and exploitative nature of IT capabilities. This paper helps scholars and practitioners to clearly distinguish different perspectives of IT capabilities on how to build a competitive advantage from IT today.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2020 IEEE 22nd Conference on Business Informatics (CBI) 2020
PublisherIEEE Xplore
Pages84-93
Number of pages10
ISBN (electronic)978-1-7281-9926-9
ISBN (print)978-1-7281-9927-6
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesIEEE Conference on Business Informatics, CBI

External IDs

Scopus 85089278162
ORCID /0000-0002-9465-9679/work/142250674