IT-enabled Intangibles and IT Capabilities: A Study from the Resource-based view and IS Strategy Perspective

The strategic value of IT and the role of IT capabilities have been strongly emphasized in the literature. Prior research employed the resource-based view to examine the strategic value of IT and IT capabilities using three distinct IT resources: IT infrastructures, human IT resources, and IT-enabled intangibles. It should be noted, however, that the link between IT-enabled intangibles and IT capabilities remains elusive. The purpose of this study is to broaden understanding with respect to the strategic value of IT by examining the ambiguous relationships between IT-enabled intangibles and IT capabilities. Drawing on thinking in IS strategy and the resource-based view literature, this study proposes a model to argue that the type of IS strategy - IS innovator and IS conservative - would have different impacts on how companies employ IT-enabled intangibles to utilize their IT capabilities.