IT Investment Consistency and Other Factors Influencing the Success of IT Performance

IT Business Value (ITBV) research generally proposes that various “good” IT governance and management practices influence positively IT performance. Yet, this claim has proved hard to verify with empirical data. In this study we first identified and analyzed factors that are seen to influence IT deployment success, then hypothesized about the relationships among and between these factors and finally integrated the hypotheses into a research model. We then empirically evaluated the hypotheses and the entire research model. The consistency of IT investments as the response to the cyclical behavior of the economy is a novel factor introduced in this study to the ITBV research. Special attention was also placed on the perceived importance of IT to business, business-IT alignment and IT management. We used survey data of 212 responses collected from CxOs during an economic recession to test the hypotheses and the model for path coefficients and indirect effects. Empirical results confirmed that all research model factors influenced positively IT deployment success. Moreover, high values in the perceived importance of IT, business-IT alignment and the quality of IT management were discovered to be antecedents to the consistency of IT investments, and when that was achieved, the impact was positive on IT deployment success.