IT capabilities, interfirm performance, and the state of economic development

Purpose – Prior studies have found that productivity gains associated with information technology (IT) adoption, measured at either the firm‐ or aggregate‐economy levels, differ between developed and developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to extend prior cross‐country research to the interfirm IT capabilities and relationship‐level. Design/methodology/approach – A two‐country comparative study is conducted: the USA, a developed country; and Thailand, a developing country. The measurement constructs for the interfirm IT capabilities and performance are derived from the existing literature. Data are collected from IT managers who oversee interfirm relationships as follows: 68 from the US firms; 107 from Thai firms. Several statistical tools are used to test the developed hypotheses, including correlation, regression, and t ‐test analysis. Findings – The important results of the paper indicate the following: IT technical capabilities are positively associated with interfirm performance across two countries. However, IT personnel IT capabilities had a positive relationship with interfirm performance only in Thai firms. Also, Thai firms realize higher innovation performance as a result of IT adoption than the US firms. Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory study as it is based on data from only two countries. Thus, a new causal theory about interfirm relationship‐level performance is not sought. The future research needs include data collection from more countries and longitudinal analyses of trends based on advances in IT capabilities in different countries. Originality/value – In today's networked global economy, many organizations have value chains that involve interfirm relationships. This paper is the first attempt to explore productivity gains associated with IT adoption, measured at interfirm relationship‐level, based on cross‐country comparative analysis.