IBS Lunchtime Research Seminar - Enabling technologies, complementary skills and firm adoption of new digital technologies in turbulent times

You are cordially invited to attend an International Business and Strategy Departmental Research Meeting, during which there will be a presentation by Fabio Lamperti , University of Perugia. A reminder that attendance for IBS (full time, research oriented) staff and full-time students is compulsory, and where possible, must be in person. Individuals unable to attend in person, due to legitimate reasons will be provided a Teams link on request. Non-IBS staff are welcome to attend, but must register prior to the event. If you have not received the email invite please email Jana Oslejova.

Please join us in Room 108, Henley Business School, if you would like to attend, please register using the link below:

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Please make sure you let me know in advance if you intend to attend in person so that the correct amount of catering is booked.

Date: Wednesday 29th November, HBS Room 108

Time: 13.00 – 14.15 pm

Abstract:

Using first-hand information from firms in a two-wave survey conducted before and after the Covid 19 pandemic, we explore whether and how drivers of adoption of digital technology are affected by market turbulence and uncertainty. We show that both investments in enabling technologies (e.g., cloud computing) and the development of complementary technical capabilities play a critical role in increasing the likelihood of adoption of new digital technologies; individually, these factors lead to an 8% increase in the likelihood of adoption, while their combined effect leads to a significant 17% increase. Moreover, the complementarity between these factors has widened after the pandemic, indicating that companies are bound in their technology choices by path-dependent human capital endowments. Specifically, the associated probability of technology adoption has increased to 26% in the aftermath of the crisis, suggesting that companies strategically target their investments to areas where they have technical expertise to minimize the risk of investment failure.