Business Competence of Information Technology Professionals: Conceptual Development and Influence on IT-Business Partnerships

This research aims at improving our understanding of the concept of business competence of information technology professionals and at exploring the contribution of this competence to the development of partnerships between IT professionals and their business clients. Business competence focuses on the areas of knowledge that are not specifically IT-related. At a broad level, it comprises the organization-specific knowledge and the interpersonal and management knowledge possessed by IT professionals. Each of these categories is in turn inclusive of more specific areas of knowledge. Organizational overview, organizational unit, organizational responsibility, and IT-business integration form the organization-specific knowledge, while interpersonal communication, leadership, and knowledge networking form the interpersonal and management knowledge. Such competence is hypothesized to be instrumental in increasing the intentions of IT professionals to develop and strengthen the relationship with their clients. The first step in the study was to develop a scale to measure business competence of IT professionals. The scale was validated, and then used to test the model that relates competence to intentions to form IT-business partnerships. The results support the suggested structure for business competence and indicate that business competence significantly influences the intentions of IT professionals to develop partnerships with their business clients.

[1]  John R. Anderson The Architecture of Cognition , 1983 .

[2]  Thomas Phillip Schambach Maintaining professional competence : an evaluation of factors affecting professional obsolescence of information technology professionals , 1994 .

[3]  I. Nonaka A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[4]  Steve Sawyer,et al.  IT skills in the context of BigCo. , 1998, SIGCPR '98.

[5]  Gordon B. Davis,et al.  Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems , 1997 .

[6]  Robert W. Zmud,et al.  The Effectiveness of External Information Channels in Facilitating Innovation Within Software Development Groups , 1983, MIS Q..

[7]  Jan-Bernd Lohmöller,et al.  Latent Variable Path Modeling with Partial Least Squares , 1989 .

[8]  Wynne W. Chin,et al.  A Partial Least Squares Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Measuring Interaction Effects: Results from a Monte Carlo Simulation Study and Voice Mail Emotion/Adoption Study , 1996, ICIS.

[9]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  Structural Equation Modeling and Regression: Guidelines for Research Practice , 2000, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

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

[11]  R. Ryan Nelson,et al.  Educational Needs as Perceived by IS and End-User Personnel: A Survey of Knowledge and Skill Requirements , 1991, MIS Q..

[12]  Kay M. Nelson,et al.  International Conference on Information Systems ( ICIS ) 1993 THE CONTRIBUTION OF SHARED KNOWLEDGE TO IS GROUP PERFORMANCE , 2017 .

[13]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Information Technology Competence of Business Managers: A Definition and Research Model , 2001, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[14]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Development of an Instrument to Measure the Perceptions of Adopting an Information Technology Innovation , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[15]  K. R. Conner,et al.  A Resource-Based Theory of the Firm: Knowledge Versus Opportunism , 1996 .

[16]  Robert L. Ashenhurst,et al.  Curriculum recommendations for graduate professional programs in information systems , 1972, Commun. ACM.

[17]  G. Ryle,et al.  心的概念 = The concept of mind , 1962 .

[18]  Ritu Agarwal,et al.  Aligning the IT Human Resource with Business Vision: The Leadership Initiative at 3M , 2000, MIS Q..

[19]  Wynne W. Chin Issues and Opinion on Structural Equation Modeling by , 2009 .

[20]  Herman Wold,et al.  Soft modelling: The Basic Design and Some Extensions , 1982 .

[21]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[22]  Robert Libby,et al.  Tacit managerial versus technical knowledge as determinants of audit expertise in the field , 1997 .

[23]  Elena Karahanna,et al.  Time Flies When You're Having Fun: Cognitive Absorption and Beliefs About Information Technology Usage , 2000, MIS Q..

[24]  Stephanie Watts,et al.  Informational Influence in Organizations: An Integrated Approach to Knowledge Adoption , 2003, Inf. Syst. Res..

[25]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[26]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings , 1979 .

[27]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[28]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[29]  J. Rockart,et al.  EIGHT IMPERATIVES FOR THE NEW IT ORGANIZATION , 1996 .

[30]  Elena L. Grigorenko,et al.  Practical Intelligence in Everyday Life , 2000 .

[31]  J. C. Henderson PLUGGING INTO STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS: THE CRITICAL IS CONNECTION , 1990 .

[32]  Edward G. Carmines,et al.  Reliability and Validity Assessment , 1979 .

[33]  Dale Goodhue,et al.  Develop Long-Term Competitiveness through IT Assets , 1996 .

[34]  Peter A. Todd,et al.  Understanding Information Technology Usage: A Test of Competing Models , 1995, Inf. Syst. Res..

[35]  James D. McKeen,et al.  The Evolution of IS Job Skills: A Content Analysis of IS Job Advertisements from 1970 to 1990 , 1995, MIS Q..

[36]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Factors That Influence the Social Dimension of Alignment Between Business and Information Technology Objectives , 2000, MIS Q..

[37]  L. Willcocks,et al.  Core IS Capabilities for Exploiting Information Technology , 1998 .

[38]  Lara Preiser-Houy,et al.  Building high quality working relationships between information systems specialists and business clients : the impacts of IS role, tactics and institutional context , 1999 .

[39]  David Gefen,et al.  Structural Equation Modeling Techniques and Regression: Guidelines for Research Practice , 2000 .

[40]  Barbara J. Bashein,et al.  A Credibility Equation for IT Specialists , 1997 .

[41]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Impact of Organizational Maturity on Information System Skill Needs , 1980, MIS Q..

[42]  J. B. Quinn,et al.  Intelligent Enterprise: A Knowledge and Service Based Paradigm for Industry , 1992 .

[43]  I. Henderson Action Learning: A Missing Link in Management Development? , 1993 .

[44]  Soon Ang,et al.  The Nature of Soft Skills of Information Systems Professionals , 1996 .

[45]  George O. Klemp Identifying, Measuring, and Integrating Competence. , 1979 .

[46]  Deborah Compeau,et al.  Social Cognitive Theory and Individual Reactions to Computing Technology: A Longitudinal Study , 1999, MIS Q..