Antecedents of Dynamic Capabilities and IT-Dependent Initiatives in the Context of Digital Data

Abstract

Firms automatically and continuously capture a high amount of digital data (DD) through social media, RFID tags, clickstreams, manufacturing sensors. However, empirical evidence on the effects of the generation of such digital data on firms remains scarce. Therefore, this paper examines the antecedents of companies' ability to leverage DD, which the authors refer to as DD dynamic capability and DD initiatives, and investigates whether this ability directly leads to better data accessibility. They empirically test the hypotheses, and they find that the antecedents have specific influences on both DD initiatives and DD capability, such that all the antecedents support the initiatives; however, only organizational processes strengthen DD capability. Furthermore, DD initiatives and DD capability improve the accessibility of DD. The results show that organizational processes of sensing, coordination, integration, and learning emerged as the most important sources of DCs. By contrast, the firm's assets and history played only a marginal, supporting role.