IT Competence in Internet Founder Teams

In the Net Economy, numerous start-ups relying on Internet-based business models have been founded in the recent years. In these ventures IT experts are confronted with different requirements to those of traditional software development. It can thus be assumed that founders in the Net Economy prefer IT experts with a different competence profile. Based on an elaborate competence model for IT experts in Internet-based ventures, founder preferences are empirically analyzed and related to the novelty of the venture’s product. An adaptive conjoint analysis is applied to obtain utility values for single components of competence. Using cluster analysis, four different competence profiles are identified which correspond to prototypical IT experts bearing different core functions. Data analysis suggests that founders with more innovative products differ from founders with less innovative products in their perception of the optimal IT expert’s competence profile. The results have implications both for career decisions of IT experts and for founders of Internet start-ups who are looking for co-founding IT experts. This study is one of the first to explicitly focus on IT competence in Internet-based ventures. It therefore extends existing research on IT competence to a new and dynamic industry.

[1]  Vithala R. Rao,et al.  Conjoint Measurement- for Quantifying Judgmental Data , 1971 .

[2]  J. A. Hartigan,et al.  A k-means clustering algorithm , 1979 .

[3]  Gesellschaft für Informatik.  Wirtschaftsinformatik , 2007, Informatik-Spektrum.

[4]  Sören Salomo,et al.  Je innovativer, desto erfolgreicher? , 2005 .

[5]  Christof Weinhardt,et al.  Internetökonomie : Editorial zum Schwerpunktthema = Internet economics : Editorial to a special issue , 2006 .

[6]  Mark Serva.  Proceedings of the 2001 ACM SIGCPR conference on Computer personnel research , 2001 .

[7]  Paul E. Green,et al.  Segmenting Markets with Conjoint Analysis , 1991 .

[8]  Allen C. Amason,et al.  Newness and novelty: Relating top management team composition to new venture performance , 2006 .

[9]  Jane W. Moy,et al.  Are employers assessing the right traits in hiring? Evidence from Hong Kong companies , 2006 .

[10]  Janet L. Bailey,et al.  Industry perceptions of the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by computer programmers , 2001, SIGCPR '01.

[11]  Ian MacInnes,et al.  Dynamic business model framework for emerging technologies , 2005, Int. J. Serv. Technol. Manag..

[12]  W. Edwards,et al.  Decision Analysis and Behavioral Research , 1986 .

[13]  E. Kuntsche,et al.  Multivariate Analysemethoden: Eine anwendungsorientierte Einführung. , 2001 .

[14]  M. Benkenstein,et al.  Besonderheiten des Innovationsmanagements in Dienstleistungsunternehmungen , 1998 .

[15]  Pak Yoong,et al.  The impact of e-commerce on the role of IS professionals , 2004, DATB.

[16]  Susan E. Yager,et al.  Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on Computer personnel research 2005, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 14-16, 2005 , 2005, CPR.

[17]  Jerome A. Katz.  Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth , 1998 .

[18]  Friedrich Roithmayr,et al.  Know-how-Unternehmen , 1997, Wirtsch..

[19]  Eileen M. Trauth,et al.  Critical Skills and Knowledge Requirements of IS Professionals: A Joint Academic/Industry Investigation , 1995, MIS Q..

[20]  Matthias Häsel.  Kompetenz von IT-Experten in internetbasierten Gründungsunternehmen - eine conjointanalytische Untersuchung von Präferenzen und Wertwahrnehmung , 2009, Entrepreneurship.

[21]  Donald J. Reifer,et al.  Web Development: Estimating Quick-to-Market Software , 2000, IEEE Softw..

[22]  G. Krogh,et al.  A perspective on knowledge, competence and strategy , 1995 .

[23]  Steven H. Hanks,et al.  Founder Competence, the Environment, and Venture Performance , 1994 .

[24]  Torsten J. Gerpott,et al.  Strategisches Technologie- und Innovationsmanagement , 2005 .

[25]  H. Scheffé.  A METHOD FOR JUDGING ALL CONTRASTS IN THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE , 1953 .

[26]  H. Matlay.  E‐entrepreneurship and small e‐business development: towards a comparative research agenda , 2004 .

[27]  Jens Coldewey.  Agile Entwicklung Web-basierter Systeme , 2002, Wirtsch..

[28]  Maurice K. Wong,et al.  Algorithm AS136: A k-means clustering algorithm. , 1979 .

[29]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Influence of Business Managers' IT Competence on Championing IT , 2003, Inf. Syst. Res..

[30]  Terry S. Overton,et al.  Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys , 1977 .

[31]  V. Srinivasan,et al.  A CONJUNCTIVE-COMPENSATORY APPROACH TO THE SELF-EXPLICATION OF MULTIATTRIBUTED PREFERENCES* , 1988 .

[32]  J. H. Ward.  Hierarchical Grouping to Optimize an Objective Function , 1963 .

[33]  Matthias Häsel,et al.  Competence of IT professionals in e-business venture teams: The relationship of experience, expertise and preference structure , 2009 .

[34]  Roger K. Blashfield,et al.  Mixture model tests of cluster analysis: Accuracy of four agglomerative hierarchical methods. , 1976 .

[35]  Tobias Kollmann,et al.  Competence of IT Professionals in E-Business Venture Teams: The Effect of Experience and Expertise on Preference Structure , 2009, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[36]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Business Competence of Information Technology Professionals: Conceptual Development and Influence on IT-Business Partnerships , 2004, MIS Q..

[37]  W. Bogner,et al.  Technology strategy and software new ventures' performance:Exploring the moderating effect of the competitive environment , 2000 .

[38]  E. B. Andersen,et al.  Modern factor analysis , 1961 .

[39]  R. Whitley,et al.  Managing competences in entrepreneurial technology firms: a comparative institutional analysis of Germany, Sweden and the UK , 2004 .

[40]  Tobias Kollmann,et al.  What is e-entrepreneurship? - fundamentals of company founding in the net economy , 2006, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[41]  Fred Niederman,et al.  Staffing and management of e-commerce programs and projects , 2005, SIGMIS CPR '05.

[42]  J. Bortz.  Statistik für Human- und Sozialwissenschaftler , 2010 .

[43]  Dianne P. Bills,et al.  The role of programming in IT , 2005, SIGITE '05.

[44]  Judith B. Kamm,et al.  The Stages of Team Venture Formation: A Decision-making Model , 1993 .

[45]  Wolfgang König,et al.  Herausforderungen der Globalisierung für die Wirtschaftsinformatik-Ausbildung , 2007, Wirtschaftsinf..

[46]  Hal R. Varian.  Grundzüge der Mikroökonomik , 2011 .

[47]  Paul E. Green,et al.  Adaptive Conjoint Analysis: Some Caveats and Suggestions , 1991 .