Exploring the Role of IT-enabled Operant Resources in Service Innovation

• Main Authors: Wang, Li-An, 王立安
• Other Authors: Hsu, Pei-Fang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81865374112087195068

碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 服務科學研究所 === 102 === Service innovation can help firms gain competitive advantage in a highly turbulent environment, while operant resources play a critical role that enables service innovation. However, while the concept of operant resource has been extensively discussed, the practices of operant resources are not well understood. Specifically, extant research on the relationship between IT-enabled operant resource and service innovation is scant. This study proposes two IT-enabled operant resources: IT-enabled NSD (new service development) and IT-enabled CSI (continual service improvement), and empirically examines their value on service innovation. We collected data from 247 Taiwanese firms and found (1) IT-enabled NSD can enhance both radical and incremental service innovation practices. However, only radical service innovation can directly contribute to firms’ competitive advantage. (2) Incremental service innovation can indirectly influence competitive advantage through the help of IT-enabled CSI. This phenomenon shows that using IT to collect feedback from customers and first line employees after launching new service innovations are critical for improving new services and for gaining competitive advantage. Our study highlights the role of IT, which enables firms to deal with the iterative nature of NSD (new service development) and CSI (continual service improvement) processes. The proposed research model can assist firms to develop their IT-enabled operant resources, and design service improvement mechanisms toward the cyclic innovation process.