The differential impact of IT investments in the long term: a long-horizon event study

Purpose This research investigates the differential impact of information technology (IT) investments based on their features, such as investment in data management capability, security improvement, IT outsourcing or new IT infrastructure. The Long-Horizon Event Study (LHES) is essential for providing a more appropriate measure of the value of IT investments because firms' strategic decisions often set long-horizon and large-scale organizational goals, and there is inherent uncertainty regarding future cash flows resulting from these investments. Therefore, the authors aim to analyze how announcements of IT investments affect the firm's abnormal stock returns over the long term and to compare the differential impact of different features of IT investment. Design/methodology/approach The authors gathered IT investment announcements and stock data of listed firms in Korea between 2000 and 2018, and the monthly stock market returns over the 5 years after the announcements. To measure the differential impact of IT investments based on the investment features, the authors separate announcements data into five groups. A LHES is used to estimate the long-term effects of IT investment announcements. Findings The results indicate that announcements of IT investments had a long-term positive effect on firm performance. Additionally, the findings reveal differential effects of IT investments across industries and investment features. Notably, news of self-developed IT investments and IT investments in the manufacturing industry had significantly positive effects. However, contrary to common belief, announcements of investments in so-called essential IT areas such as data, security, or new IT infrastructure did not yield significant effects. Originality/value Although the need for LHES has been emphasized in information systems research, few follow-up studies have been conducted since Barua and Mani (2018). This is primarily due to the challenges associated with collecting large-scale abnormal stock returns data over a long horizon. This research represents the first LHES to investigate the differential impact of IT investments based on their features. By doing so, this study can provide valuable insights for decision-makers within firms, helping them understand the time horizon of market outcomes of IT investments based on their features. Furthermore, this work extends the scope of LHES to comprehend the differential impacts of investment features. For instance, managers need to grasp that so-called essential IT investments, such as data management, security enhancements or new IT infrastructure, may not necessarily generate long-term market value.