How do agribusinesses thrive through complexity? The pivotal role of e-commerce capability and business agility

Jiabao Lin, Lei Li, Xin (robert) Luo and Jose Benitez
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Jiabao Lin: SCAU - South China Agricultural University
Lei Li: SCAU - South China Agricultural University
Xin (robert) Luo: UCLA Anderson School of Management
Jose Benitez: ESC [Rennes] - ESC Rennes School of Business

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Abstract: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown how agricultural foods and e-commerce initiatives are critical for many organizations, regions, and countries worldwide. Despite this vital importance, prior IS research on the business value of IT has not paid enough attention to the potential specificities of the agribusinesses. This study examines the impact of e-commerce capability on business agility in agribusinesses. Using a sample of Chinese agriculture firms, we find that: 1) The e-commerce capability of agribusinesses enables two types of business agility: market capitalizing agility and operational adjustment agility, and 2) while environmental complexity positively moderates the effects of e-commerce capability on the market capitalizing agility and operational adjustment agility, environmental dynamism does not. This study contributes to the IS research on the business value of IT by providing an eloquent theoretical explanation and empirical evidence on how e-commerce capability help agricultural firms to thrive through complexity by enabling market capitalizing agility (strategic focus) and operational adjustment agility (operational focus).

Keywords: E-commerce capability; Business agility; IT-enabled organizational capabilities perspective; Agribusinesses; Complexity; Business value of IT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published in Decision Support Systems, 2020, 135, pp.113342. ⟨10.1016/j.dss.2020.113342⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03004357

DOI: 10.1016/j.dss.2020.113342

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