Cyber management and value creation: an organisational learning-based approach

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights the relevance, utilisation, and leveragability of cyberspace for organisations from resource and learning perspectives. While cyberspace offers tantalising possibilities to create and share resources, conduct business, and solve issues transcending physical boundaries, it also creates conditions of high market uncertainty and technological turbulence. Prior management research on cyberspace has primarily focused on distinct organisational practices (for cybersecurity or emerging technologies like big data/machine learning), however theoretical understanding is lacking. We address this gap by using an Organisational Learning-based approach to present a comprehensive framework for the management of firm-specific cyber resources – a model that combines both protection and leveraging aspects to create and appropriate value. Our paper provides a definition and model of cyber management, and we call on future scholars to explore further theoretical and practical implications of organisations in a cyber-context.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyberspace
• cyber resources
• cyber management
• organisational learning
• resource-based view

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for helpful comments received on a preliminary version of the paper presented at the Academy of Management Meeting, and to colleagues for feedback on prior versions. Both authors contributed equally.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.