Towards a Model for Successful Information Technology Investments: Insights from Event Studies

Investments in information technology (IT) do not always result in the expected payoffs. The factors which determine the success of IT investments are not well understood. Event studies are one approach to appraising IT investments. In this paper we review major event studies on IT investments, and based on the results of these studies, we propose a conceptual model describing the factors that impact successful IT investments. The contribution of this paper is three-fold: First, our comprehensive literature review of event studies dealing with IT investments will likely benefit other scholars in their own research on IT productivity. Second, our derived model based on twelve event studies may help explain some of the inconclusiveness and inconsistency in the results of earlier IT productivity research. Third, the ideas and concepts presented in this paper may lead to improved future usage of the event studies methodology in the field of IT.