Resumo

High investments in Information Technology (IT) show a significant change in the IT usage pattern from the simple automation of tasks to the improvement of the organizational processes (Samhan, 2017). Firms use IT to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of employees and operations, reducing costs, and creating innovative and new applications that lead to advantage (Hemmatfar, Salehi & Bayat, 2010). The usage of IT with this focus brought to light the concept of Information Technology Capability or IT Capability.

IT capabilities can also assist in data sharing with stakeholders, in decision making and in problem solving by providing the correct and necessary information (Yu, Chavez, Jacobs, & Feng, 2018). However, those studies haven´t investigated the relationship of the IT capability to either information and information service quality. Q: Is the IT capability related to both information quality and information service quality in a digital business context? And, Is the IT capability related to firm performance, either directly or through information and service quality in a digital business context?

IT capability may directly influence performance as an organizational capacity (Lee, Sambamurthy & Zmud, 1997) For Wang and Strong (1996), information that has quality is that which is suitable for consumers use. While for DeLone and McLean (2003) and Landrum and Prybutok (2004), the concept refers to quality of products/services. A digital business ecosystem is a transparent and self-organized virtual environment in which open relations are established among committed and cooperative entities, thus determining their interaction and the sharing of knowledge (Baggio & Chiappa 2013).

To answer our research question, we adopted an exploratory and qualitative research method and the research strategy employed is a multiple-case study. To do so, we conducted interviews with managers and specialists who work in digital business. The units of analysis are organizations, since the theoretical lens adopted (RBV) uses them as level of analysis; and the use of multiple sources of evidence (interviews and document analysis) to triangulate the findings and obtain construct validity (Yin, 2010). We used a level of importance criteria for each category and the analysis from MAXqDA.

Concerning the categorization process, a mixed model was adopted, in which categories we selected a priori. The categories are homogeneous, complete, exclusive, objective and appropriate to the content of the messages and the purpose of the research (Bardin, 2011). The results of each case study and the conclusion for each proposition might be seen in table 3. It´s important to highlight that proposition 1 and 4 are partially supported and the proposition 2 and 3 are supported in some cases and partially supported in others. Therefore, in our research none proposition was rejected.

This research contributes to both academic and business knowledge. Following one of our research questions, IT capabilities dimensions present in the literature have been cross-referenced, revealed and combined with the information quality and information service quality. We presented a broad review of the literature and a well-defined coding script that can serve as a model for future research. In business terms, our study extend which elements of IT capabilities and other capabilities digital business organizations should focus to reach better information and information service quality.

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