Complementarities between behavioral integration and IT Use: Impacts on absorptive capacity and team effectiveness

Given the widespread adoption of organizational information technologies for coordination and communication, it is imperative to assess the value creating dynamics to leverage these technologies for organizational work. This research tests one such value dynamic related to complementarities processes. Complementarities are said to exist when presence of one factor increases the marginal returns to the other. We assess these complementary dynamics between behavioral integration processes and IT use processes in an organization. The study uses team as the level of analysis to assess IT impacts closer to the actual operationalization of technology. The results indicate the presence of positive synergies between IT usage and behavioral integration processes that enhance the absorptive capacity within a team. However, results also indicate significant differences in the nature of these effects according to the type of complement. A detailed discussion of the results is presented to highlight the key contributions of the study.