JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Ronald Freeze is a visiting Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems at Arizona State University. His broad research area is knowledge management. His research has been published in the Journal of Knowledge Management as well as AMCIS, ICIS, and HICSS conference proceedings.Abstract: We examine a knowledge management (KM) success model that incorporates the quality of available knowledge and KM systems built to share and reuse knowledge such as determinants of users' perception of usefulness and user satisfaction with an organization's KM practices. Perceived usefulness and user satisfaction, in turn, affect knowledge use, which in our model is a measure of how well knowledge sharing and reuse activities are internalized by an organization. Our model includes organizational support structure as a contributing factor to the success of KM Journal of Management Information Systems/ Winter 2006-7, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 309-347. © 2007 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 0742-1222 / 2007.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/MIS0742-122223031 1 3 1 0 KULKARNI, RAVINDRAN, AND FREEZE system implementation. Data collected from 150 knowledge workers from a variety of organizations confirmed 10 of 13 hypothesized relationships. Notably, the organizational support factors of leadership commitment, supervisor and coworker support, as well as incentives, directly or indirectly supported shared knowledge quality and knowledge use. In line with the proposed model, the study lends support to the argument that, in addition to KM systems quality, firms must pay careful attention to championing and goal setting as well as designing adequate reward systems for the ultimate success of these efforts. This is one of the first studies that encompasses both the supply (knowledge contribution) and demand (knowledge reuse) sides of KM in the same model. It provides more than anecdotal evidence of factors that determine successful KM system implementations. Unlike earlier studies that only deal with knowledge-sharing incentives or quality of shared knowledge, we present and empirically validate an integrated model that includes knowledge sharing and knowledge quality and their links to the desired outcome -namely, knowledge reuse.Key words and phrases: information systems success, knowledge management, knowledge management success, knowledge management systems, knowledge quality, knowledge reuse, knowledge sharing, system quality, user satisfaction.Knowledge management (KM) is evolving into a strategically important area for most organizations. Broadly, KM can be viewed as the process by which organizations leverage and extract ...

An innovative business practice attributed to the information technology (IT) industry is the aggressive use of employee stock options to compensate executives and other employees. In this study, we investigate whether the greater use of stock options in the IT industry can be explained on the basis of general economic relationships that apply to firms in all industries. To examine differences in compensating top executives, we estimate a system of simultaneous equations that is designed to accommodate interconnections between performance, the level of compensation, and the mix of compensation components. We document that the shares of both bonus and option pay increase with performance and that the pay level and the extent of incentive pay positively affect firm performance. We identify economic factors that may influence the use of options and show that there are significant differences in these factors between IT and other industries. We find that, while much of the greater use of options by IT firms is explained by the economic factors, significant residual differences remain. We also find that, when performance and other factors are considered, the level of executive pay in the IT industry is not higher than in other industries.information technology industry, executive compensation, stock options, pay for performance

The year 2000 (Y2K) countdown provided a uniquely visible instance of spending on information technology (IT) by U.S. companies. With public attention riveted on potential Y2K malfunctions, managers were forced to evaluate their IT and make decisions about whether to modify or replace existing systems. In the aftermath of Y2K, critics charged that the problem was overblown and that companies overspent on IT. In contrast, we posit in this paper that efforts companies made to renew and upgrade their IT may have positioned them to take advantage of new e-business applications. As Y2K approached, managers could invest opportunistically in IT, which would enable them to connect with customers and suppliers in new ways. Contrary to the alleged overspending, we find that firm value increased, on average, with Y2K spending by Fortune 1000 companies. In particular, higher firm value and subsequent earnings were associated with Y2K spending for firms in industries where IT was considered to have a transforming influence--altering traditional ways of doing business by redefining business processes and relationships. We also test whether the positive association between firm value and Y2K spending diminished with Y2K spending by industry peer firms, but we do not find support for this relative investment hypothesis.information technology and firm performance, business value of information technology, strategic role of information technology, relative investment in information technology, enterprise resource planning systems

ECONOMIC studies cx)nduaed in the 1980s and early 1990s failed to find evidence of improved firm productivity corresponding to greater IT investment. Because business firms expeaed performance to improve as a result of IT, the failure to observe higher productivity (more output from resources employed) was dubbed the "productivity paradox" [5]. The alleged implication was that they had overinvested in computers and other IT.If firm productivity did improve with investment in IT, the shareholder value of publicly traded com-High valuation multiples on IT spending suggest that companies are underinvesting in IT.reporting on IT initiatives under current accounting rules. The resulting inability to publicly observe firm spending on IT makes it difficult to measure IT influence on productivity or firm value. On the other hand, the relation between shareholder value and R&D spending (reported separately in accounting statements) has been studied extensively [10].With respect to IT spending, the Y2K situation was exceptional because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) instructed publicly panies would increase with IT spending. When we traded companies to provide estimates of all IT costs studied the relation between shareholder value and IT spending by Fortune 1000 companies as they prepared for the Y2K date change we found that shareholder value associated with Y2K spending was in fact many times greater than the spending itself We also found this strong positive relation between shareholder value and Y2K spending persisted through the market downturn of 2000-2002. associated with Y2K preparation in quarterly and annual reports beginning in the fall of 1998. Companies had to disclose estimates of all amounts that had been or would be incurred to correct existing IT or to acquire new IT if acquisitions were made or accelerated to achieve Y2K compliance.Simple correction of existing IT would not add economic value because it wotild not improve firm These restdts are surprising in light of conven-productivity. Moreover, because profit-seeking comtional wisdom that companies overspent on Y2K. panies are expected to make value-adding invest-At face value, the relation between shareholder value ments voluntarily, forced investment in IT would and Y2K spending suggests that improved produc-not be expected to increase firm value. These obsertivity due to Y2K initiatives far outweighed their vations about Y2K make the finding of a large poscosts. This could mean that businesses actually itive valuation multiple on Y2K spending underinvested in new IT during this period, thus particularly puzzling. Our objective in writing this presenting a new paradox that is the reverse of the article is therefore to identify and evaluate possible initial productivity paradox. Financial Reporting on IT InvestmentAlthough information management has assumed an increasingly important role in defining the strategic direction of businesses, there is no standard for explanations for the high market valuation of Y2K spending. Shareho...

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Ronald Freeze is a visiting Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems at Arizona State University. His broad research area is knowledge management. His research has been published in the Journal of Knowledge Management as well as AMCIS, ICIS, and HICSS conference proceedings.Abstract: We examine a knowledge management (KM) success model that incorporates the quality of available knowledge and KM systems built to share and reuse knowledge such as determinants of users' perception of usefulness and user satisfaction with an organization's KM practices. Perceived usefulness and user satisfaction, in turn, affect knowledge use, which in our model is a measure of how well knowledge sharing and reuse activities are internalized by an organization. Our model includes organizational support structure as a contributing factor to the success of KM Journal of Management Information Systems/ Winter 2006-7, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 309-347. © 2007 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 0742-1222 / 2007.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/MIS0742-122223031 1 3 1 0 KULKARNI, RAVINDRAN, AND FREEZE system implementation. Data collected from 150 knowledge workers from a variety of organizations confirmed 10 of 13 hypothesized relationships. Notably, the organizational support factors of leadership commitment, supervisor and coworker support, as well as incentives, directly or indirectly supported shared knowledge quality and knowledge use. In line with the proposed model, the study lends support to the argument that, in addition to KM systems quality, firms must pay careful attention to championing and goal setting as well as designing adequate reward systems for the ultimate success of these efforts. This is one of the first studies that encompasses both the supply (knowledge contribution) and demand (knowledge reuse) sides of KM in the same model. It provides more than anecdotal evidence of factors that determine successful KM system implementations. Unlike earlier studies that only deal with knowledge-sharing incentives or quality of shared knowledge, we present and empirically validate an integrated model that includes knowledge sharing and knowledge quality and their links to the desired outcome -namely, knowledge reuse.Key words and phrases: information systems success, knowledge management, knowledge management success, knowledge management systems, knowledge quality, knowledge reuse, knowledge sharing, system quality, user satisfaction.Knowledge management (KM) is evolving into a strategically important area for most organizations. Broadly, KM can be viewed as the process by which organizations leverage and extract ...