earticle

영어

While business executives increasingly invest in IT, there are some doubts on its outcomes. In this paper, we hypothesize that the interaction between IT and R&D positively affect the firm’s performance. The data based on 80 different companies in Korea from 2009 to 2013 indicates that the moderating effect of IT on the relationship between R&D and firm performance is negative, rejecting the hypothesis. The reason is software based on the fact that the interaction between IT software and R&D is negative; while the interaction between IT hardware and R&D is positive. The results also show that investment on software creates its own value while investment on hardware does not. Our research indicates that companies should invest their capital on IT software to increase their productivity, but they should not expect the additional value on R&D. However, R&D can be supported by IT hardware. Our findings emphasize the need for coordinated investments in IT hardware and R&D.