The impact of Information and Communication Technologies on operating processes: evidence from a survey

This paper aims at testing whether and how the adoption of Informa-tion and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can lead to value creation. The analysis builds on previous studies according to which ICTs can determine fa-vourable economic outcomes because they lead to sound improvements at the op-erating process level and to a superior product offering. In this paper we wanted to check whether such value creation mechanism can be further boosted when com-panies embed the superior operating performance gained through the adoption of ICTs into a more valuable product offering. The paper presents the evidence of a survey conducted in Italy, which led to collect 109 usable questionnaires. Data have been analysed through the Structural Equation Modeling technique. Empiri-cal evidence shows that ICTs can lead to value creation mainly because they de-termine a better process’ responsiveness and that, when such responsiveness is embedded into a superior product offering, value creation is further boosted.