• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.55-78
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• 2007

Increasingly the information technology (IT) outsourcing phenomenon has been a subject of much academic research. Scholars have argued that knowledge complementarities playa crucial role in forming successful IT outsourcing relationships. However, notwithstanding the fast growth of IT outsourcing, prior studies on IT outsourcing have not included knowledge complementarities in their research design as a determining factor for IT outsourcing effectiveness. Further, the understanding of knowledge complementarities itself remains ambiguous. In this study, the concept of knowledge complementarities is explored in the IT outsourcing context at the firm level. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: what is knowledge complementarities? How does it affect IT outsourcing effectiveness? Is the relationship between knowledge complementarities and IT outsourcing effectiveness influenced by organizational trust between the client and the vendor? Grounded in the relevant theories to knowledge management and IT outsourcing, we develop a research model in which both the main effects of knowledge complementarities and organizational trust and the moderating effect of organizational trust on the relationships between knowledge complementarities and IT outsourcing effectiveness are tested. Within this research model, we develop a second order construct of knowledge complementarities, consisting of complementary business knowledge and complementary IT knowledge as the first order constructs. We have used data from a field study of 103 firms in Korea to test the proposed model. Controlling the effects of conflict resolution efforts, our empirical analysis found significant main effects of knowledge complementarities and organizational trust on IT outsourcing effectiveness. The results suggest that knowledge complementarities between the client and vendor positively contribute to IT outsourcing effectiveness. Specifically, the client needs to have enough IT knowledge to assess the quality of IT outsourcing services provided by the vendor. Meanwhile, the vendor should understand the client's business well enough to provide IT services, Contrary to our expectations, the moderating effect of trust on the relationship between knowledge complementarities and IT outsourcing effectiveness was not supported in this study. The results also show that organizational trust between client and vendor significantly influences IT outsourcing effectiveness. As for contributions of this study, we have not only clarified the concept of knowledge complementarities, but also developed an instrument to measure the concept and empirically validated it. Further, we have tested the idea that knowledge complementarities and trust directly influence IT outsourcing effectiveness and trust moderates the relationship between knowledge complementarities and IT outsourcing effectiveness. Out results prescribe the knowledge complementarities of client and vendor as a useful path to IT outsourcing effectiveness. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed in the paper.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.83-111
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• 2009

Despite the growing emphasis on the importance of knowledge exchange among supply chain participants, few companies have fully exploited the knowledge resources held by their supply chain partners. Among many reasons for this phenomenon, recent literature on inter-firm knowledge exchange identifies knowledge complementarities between the supply channel partners as an important determinant of knowledge exchange. Firms participating in a supply chain are likely to exchange partners' complementary knowledge. In order to extract value from them, it is important to recognize the difference between the potential value and the implementation of this potential value. However, the literature fails to distinguish between potential knowledge complementarities and implemented knowledge complementarities. In order to realize the value of potential knowledge complementarities, knowledge should be exchanged and effectively integrated in the supply channel. Further, investigating inter-firm knowledge exchange from both partners' perspectives is important especially when there are interdependencies between the channel partners. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of potential knowledge complementarities on knowledge exchange in buyer-supplier relationships by looking at both partners' perspectives. This research also includes trust in partner's competence and inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) as they are relevant when the complementary knowledge flows between organizations. The data required for this field study was collected from 70 buyers and their suppliers in three multinational enterprises in two different industries (Automobile manufacturing and Telecommunication services) headquartered in Korea. The results indicate that potential knowledge complementarities between buyer and supplier do not directly influence knowledge exchange, but indirectly through trust in partner's competence. And the results indicate that competence-based trust and IOIS have direct effects on knowledge exchange. Empirical results also show that IOIS moderates the relationship between potential knowledge complementarities and knowledge exchange. This study is a first attempt to empirically verify the theoretical model about potential knowledge complementarities and to investigate the impact of potential knowledge complementarities on interfirm knowledge exchange. From a theoretical perspective, this study not only clarifies the distinction between potential knowledge complementarities and implemented knowledge complementarities, but also develops an instrument to measure the concept of potential knowledge complementarities in the context of operational and planning knowledge in a supply chain. Further, we develop a theoretical framework suggesting that potential knowledge complementarities of partners in a supply chain affect knowledge exchange directly and indirectly through competence-based trust. The findings from this study have some managerial implications for practicing managers as well. First, buyers should search for suppliers that have potential complementary knowledge, which can be integrated to create synergy through interfirm knowledge exchange. Furthermore, firms must develop mechanisms to identify potential complementary knowledge of partners. Second, firms should continue their endeavor to develop their own unique knowledge so that their knowledge can benefit the entire supply channel. Finally, trust among supply chain partners turns out to be an important factor for interfirm knowledge exchange. Therefore, effective management for engendering trustworthy buyer-supplier relationships should receive appropriate attention from managers.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.113-129
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• 2016

Recently, as Information System projects tend to be more complex, the importance of Information System Audit increases. In the same context, the need for the resident IS Audit also increases, which is supposed to deal with the possible risks and urgent issues by providing the appropriate support and timely coordination during IS project. Basically, for the effective IS Audit, the IS audit team members should be able to understand such a business context as work characteristics, business knowledge, goals, and culture of the organization. The audit team members should also be able to share the various knowledge of Information Technology and audit procedure with the owner of the project. Especially, for the resident audit, it is more important to fill the gaps in expertise between project owner and audit team. However, any studies on the need of common knowledge base (knowledge complementarities) in the IS audit have not been done so far. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the knowledge complementarity based on inter-organizational communication between the project owner and audit team members makes an effect on the fidelity and performance of IS audit. In order to do this, the relationship among inter-organizational communication and knowledge complementarity, the fidelity of IS audit service, and performance of IS audit has been analyzed, using Structural Equation Model. The result shows that all the relationship is significant, which means that knowledge complementarity between the two different interest groups should be an effective factor on the fidelity and performance of IS audit. This result implies that, for better quality of IS Audit service, how to acquire the knowledge complementarity between the project owner and Audit team should be considered seriously as well as systematically in the process of IS Audit.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.95-118
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• 2014

The information technologies industry is now experiencing a rebirth of strong stable growth. However, very few studies have examined performance implications of strategic alliance or merger and acquisition from a knowledge-based view. Furthermore, none of these studies have investigated resource complementarities and alliance or merger and acquisition motive as potential sources of firm performance. This paper extends upon current knowledge-based literature to discover and explore linkages between resource complementarities and firm performance of strategic alliances or merger acquisitions. This study finds that strategic alliance and merger and acquisition announcements have provided abnormal positive returns of production alliances and merger and acquisition. This study can be used as a stepping stone for selection of strategic alliance or merger and acquisition.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.107-132
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• 2013

Despite the importance of knowledge complementarities (KC) to firm performance, very little is known about exactly what constitutes KC and how synergistic knowledge is created in KC. This research looks into the dimensionality of KC and how synergistic knowledge as an essential component of KC is generated in a process innovation (PI) project. We propose that KC consists of potential complementary knowledge, collaborative elaboration (CE) process, and synergistic knowledge. The model is investigated quantitatively, using a sample of 26 matched-pairs of client and consultant who participated in a PI project, and then qualitatively using interviews of a sub-sample of 7 matched-pairs of client and consultant. Data were collected in a longitudinal way at four different points during the four month project period. Results show that consultant's learning about the client's business occurs first and then client learning about IT capabilities follows through CE. With this enhanced clients' knowledge about IT capabilities, clients play an initiative role in designing the To-Be business processes, while consultants play a supporting role by introducing best practices or making suggestions based on their experiences. Future research implications as well as practical implications are also discussed.