TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of ICT and higher-order capabilities on the performance of Ibero-American SMEs
AU - Gaviria-Marin, Magaly
AU - Matute-Vallejo, Jorge
AU - Baier-Fuentes, Hugo
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Research Department of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción for facilitating this research through funding from project DIREG 11/2020. We also thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and recommendations that improved the quality of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Information and communication technologies (ICT) has the ability to create value by enabling other firm capabilities. Based on the ICT-enabled capabilities perspective, this study explores the direct and indirect effects between lower- and higher-order capabilities, such as ICT, knowledge management capability (KM) and product innovation flexibility (PIF), on the performance of Ibero-American small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper uses second-order structural equation models to test the research hypotheses with a sample of 130 Ibero-American SMEs. The results contribute to filling the gap in the SME-focused literature on empirical studies examining ICT-enabled capabilities and firm performance. The results show an enabling effect of ICT on higher-order capabilities, such as KM and PIF, which, by acting as mediating variables, create value and improve performance through innovation in firms.
AB - Information and communication technologies (ICT) has the ability to create value by enabling other firm capabilities. Based on the ICT-enabled capabilities perspective, this study explores the direct and indirect effects between lower- and higher-order capabilities, such as ICT, knowledge management capability (KM) and product innovation flexibility (PIF), on the performance of Ibero-American small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper uses second-order structural equation models to test the research hypotheses with a sample of 130 Ibero-American SMEs. The results contribute to filling the gap in the SME-focused literature on empirical studies examining ICT-enabled capabilities and firm performance. The results show an enabling effect of ICT on higher-order capabilities, such as KM and PIF, which, by acting as mediating variables, create value and improve performance through innovation in firms.
KW - Higher-order capabilities
KW - ICT capabilities
KW - Knowledge management
KW - PLS-SEM
KW - SMEs performance
KW - SmartPLS
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107469334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10588-021-09333-0
DO - 10.1007/s10588-021-09333-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107469334
SN - 1381-298X
VL - 27
SP - 414
EP - 450
JO - Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory
JF - Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory
IS - 4
ER -
