Exploring the effects of ICTs, workforce, and gender on capacity utilization

ABSTRACT

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) investments come with expectations of increased productivity, but results from ICT impact studies are mixed. We look at workforce characteristics and female participation in the workforce and management and ICTs as contexts to investigate their impact on capacity utilization. This was accomplished by using the Technology, Organization, and Environment framework and regression analysis. The results illustrate the importance of a stable and skilled workforce, capable of leveraging the existing infrastructure. In addition, the pursuit of international certifications, formal employee training, female participation, and other factors affect capacity utilization. From the research findings, we identified eight research hypotheses for future investigations.

KEYWORDS:

• ICT
• workforce
• capacity utilization
• gender
• regression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Benjamin Yeo is an Assistant Professor at the School for New Learning, DePaul University. His research interests include innovation – and technology-driven economic growth and social informatics, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Recent projects include the impact of ICTs on industry performance and the drivers of university innovation. Prior to academia, he worked in the industry as a senior research analyst in regional economics. He received a Ph.D. from the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University.

Delvin Grant is an Associate Professor of MIS and the MIS Program Administrator at Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University. He has published in Information Systems Journal, Communications of the ACM, Information Technology and People, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Computers in Industry, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Computers in Human Behavior, Business Process Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Electronic Commerce Research, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and other Journals and international conferences.