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korean management review - Vol. 48 , No. 4

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korean management review - Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 879-912
Abbreviation: kmr
ISSN: 1226-1874 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Aug 2019
Received 14 Mar 2019 Revised 09 May 2019 Accepted 09 May 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2019.48.4.879
Role and Determinants of Agility in Firms Depending on Information Technology
Geuna Kim^* ; Sanghyun Kim^**
*Ph.D., School of Business Administration, Kyungpook National University, First Author

**Professor, School of Business Administration, Kyungpook National University, Corresponding Author

정보기술의존 기업에 대한 민첩성의 역할 및 결정요인
김근아^* ; 김상현^**

*(주저자) 경북대학교 경영학부 박사 (everose22@naver.com)

**(교신저자) 경북대학교 경영학부 교수 (ksh@knu.ac.kr)

Abstract

IT is often considered to be a driving force or success factor for firms’ agility. The universal precondition related to this statement is the fact that firms putting a great effort in IT can be more agile than their competitors. Paradoxically, IT that helps firm strategies may be a threat or may limit firms’ ability that reacts to business opportunities. That is, whether IT helps or influences to firms in various ways, issues related to firms’agility has not been resolved yet. Therefore, this study proposes the point that acceleration and hindrance; directly opposing factors; between IT and agility has been frequently observed and attempts to theorize the relationship between these two factors. In addition, the lack of agility may severely restrict firm performance. Such agility may be influenced by various internal and external factors. Therefore, to effectively link the influences of firms’ agility performance that plays an important role in gaining competitive advantage for firms, this study examines the required types of agility and investigates the influences and the process it goes through.

The current study focuses on two research questions as follows. First, is there a positive relationship between IT capability, firm agility, and firm performance? Second, to what extent does organizational support structure positively or negatively moderates the link between IT capability and firm agility? To answer these questions, firms’ agility is conceptualized into customer agility, partner agility, and operational agility. Moreover, organizational supporting structure suggested in the study includes training, online support, help desk support, and change management support.

To test the proposed hypotheses, this study used SmartPLS 2.0 as the main tool for analyzing the collected data from 161 responses in various industries and positions. The results show that IT capability positively influenced firm agility and that firm agility significantly influences firm performance. However, it was identified that there was a subtle difference in proving moderating effect of organizational supporting structure. While IT capability significantly moderated the influence of firm agility according to the degree of training and change management support, online support and help desk support was partially influenced. Based on the findings, this study argues that in volatile markets, an effective model of IT governance in managing business is necessary to provide superior agility and adaptation. The findings of this study also suggest theoretically, perspective implications that show evidences in the early stages of agility studies. Practically, this study provides specific insights that can be a fine guideline contributing in decision-making related to IT of firms.

초록

본 연구는 기업 경쟁 우위 선점에 주요한 역할을 하는 기업 민첩성의 성과에 대한 영향을 효과적으로 연결시키기 위해 어떠한 민첩성들이 요구되는지에 대해 살펴보고, 어떠한 경로를 거쳐 영향을 미치는지를 연구하고자 한다. 이에 본 연구는 두 가지 연구 질문에 초점을 둔다. 첫째, 정보기술 역량과 기업 민첩성 그리고 기업 성과 사이에 긍정적인 관계가 있는가? 둘째, 조직지원 구조가 정보기술 역량과 기업 민첩성 사이의 관계를 긍정적으로 조절하는 수준은 어느 정도인가? 특히, 본 연구는 기업 민첩성에 대해 고객 민첩성, 파트너 민첩성, 운영 민첩성의 세 가지 변수로 개념화하였으며, 조직지원구조에는 교육, 온라인 지원, 상담부서 지원, 변화관리 지원, 네 가지 요소를 포함하였다. 제안한 연구모델을 검정하기 위해, 연구 목적에 일치하는 161개의 기업으로부터 수집된 자료를 바탕으로 PLS 접근법에 따라 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 정보기술 역량은 기업 민첩성에 긍정적인 영향을 미치고, 기업 민첩성 역시 기업 성과에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 하지만 조직지원 구조의 조절효과 검정에서는 차이가 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 교육과 변화관리 지원의 정도에 따라 정보기술 역량이 민첩성에 대한 영향을 유의하게 조절하였으나, 온라인 지원과 상담부서 지원은 일부만이 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이와 같은 결과를 바탕으로 본 연구는 필수적인 정보기술 역량의 구축 및 개선을 통해 정보기술이 어떻게 기업 민첩성을 활성화할 수 있는지에 대한 더 나은 이해를 돕는 초기의 실증적 증거를 제공한다. 또한, 빠르게 변화하는 비즈니스 상황에서 정보기술 관리에 내재된 모순과 역동성을 고려하여 기업의 정보기술 가치의 효용을 높이고 기업의 능력을 증가시키기 위한 고찰을 제공하여 유용한 학문적, 실무적 바탕이 되는데 의의가 있다.


Keywords: IT Capability, Customer Agility, Partner Agility, Operational Agility, Organizational Support Structure, Firm Performance 키워드: 정보기술 역량, 고객 민첩성, 파트너 민첩성, 운영 민첩성, 조직지원 구조, 기업 성과

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• 저자 김근아는 경북대학교 대학원 경영학부에서 경영정보 전공으로 경영학 석사 및 박사 학위를 취득하였다. 주요연구분야는 IT Strategy, Performance Measurement in IT, Organizational Agility, Technostress 등이다.

• 저자 김상현은 현재 경북대학교 경영학부 경영정보 전공 교수로 재직 중이다. 미국 워싱턴주립대학교 경영대학에서 호텔경영 및 경영학 학사 그리고 MBA 학위를 취득하였으며, 미국 미시시피대학교에서 경영정보 전공으로 경영학 박사 학위를 취득하였다. 주요연구분야는 정보보안, 공개소프트웨어, 클라우드 컴퓨팅, 소셜네트워크 등이며, Information & Management, Communications of the ACM, International Journal of Information Management 등 다수의 국내외 학술지에 연구실적을 발표하였다.