Dr. Russell Torres, Associate Professor in the Department of ITDS and a Society for Information Management (SIM) research fellow, was approached in August 2023 by Adriana Sun, a then 16-year-old TAMS student interested in academic research.

Together, by analyzing the data from the 2023 IT Trends study Dr. Torres gathered, the two have developed a research model which was accepted for presentation at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) in August. Dr. Torres and Sun are continuing to analyze 2024 data and plan to submit their final manuscript for publication in an academic journal in early 2025.

The research model is guided by the strategic management literature on dynamic capabilities and posits that, in turbulent markets, AI investments result in improved organizational agility and improved financial performance, primarily when such investments are made by companies that excel at resource reconfiguration.

Their data comes from the 2023 and 2024 Society for Information Management (SIM) IT Trends study, a long running survey of IT leaders that identifies IT issues and management trends.

 

Most participants are CIOs or senior directors of IT for their organization, and the data typically includes responses from several hundred organizations across the US. The data most relevant to their study are related to IT leaders’ perceptions about the turbulence of the market in which their company operates, their organizational agility, financial performance, and whether AI is a current investment priority.

 

“We are seeing dramatic changes in organizational spending related to AI, and understanding how those investments are related to improved organizational outcomes is critically important to organizations seeking more thoughtful, strategic adoption of these technologies. Conducting research into these phenomena with a motivated, talented undergraduate student and presenting our research at a highly regarded national conference is both exciting and highly rewarding.”

Dr. Torres and Sun are continuing to analyze 2024 data and plan to submit their final manuscript for publication in an academic journal in early 2025.