IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/infotm/v25y2024i4d10.1007_s10799-023-00391-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How finance shared services affect profitability: an IT business value perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Xin Chen

    (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

  • Qizhi Dai

    (LeBow College of Business, Drexel University)

  • Chaohong Na

    (Yunnan University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

Shared services have become an important IT-enabled organizational form for providing support business functions to internal users. The information systems that implement and deliver shared services are part of the organizational IT infrastructure that has a twofold effect on firm financial performance. On the one hand, with the shared services model, the IT infrastructure consolidates so that the costs are lowered for providing the common functions firm-wide. On the other hand, the systems delivering the shared services embody the workflow and business functions so that the value of shared services can be gained from improvements in the function performance at the process level. We perceive finance shared services as IT-enabled services for corporate finance and accounting functions, and propose that finance shared services improve firm profitability via cost savings at firm level and via increased working capital efficiency at the process level. We test our hypotheses with data on Chinese public firms from 2008 to 2019. Data analysis results show both direct effect of finance shared services on profitability and mediating effect of working capital efficiency. This study expands our understandings about impacts of shared services, and contributes to empirical research in IT business value.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Chen & Qizhi Dai & Chaohong Na, 2024. "How finance shared services affect profitability: an IT business value perspective," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 367-382, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:infotm:v:25:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s10799-023-00391-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10799-023-00391-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10799-023-00391-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10799-023-00391-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Will Seal & Ian Herbert, 2013. "Shared service centres and the role of the finance function," Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(2), pages 188-205, May.
    2. Punam Prasad & Sivasankaran Narayanasamy & Samit Paul & Subir Chattopadhyay & Palanisamy Saravanan, 2019. "Review Of Literature On Working Capital Management And Future Research Agenda," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 827-861, July.
    3. Sunil Mithas & M. S. Krishnan & Claes Fornell, 2016. "Research Note—Information Technology, Customer Satisfaction, and Profit: Theory and Evidence," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 166-181, March.
    4. Paagman, Arnaud & Tate, Mary & Furtmueller, Elfi & de Bloom, Jessica, 2015. "An integrative literature review and empirical validation of motives for introducing shared services in government organizations," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 110-123.
    5. Anitesh Barua & Charles H. Kriebel & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 1995. "Information Technologies and Business Value: An Analytic and Empirical Investigation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 3-23, March.
    6. Richter, Philipp Clemens & Brühl, Rolf, 2017. "Shared service center research: A review of the past, present, and future," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 26-38.
    7. Richter, Philipp Clemens & Brühl, Rolf, 2020. "Ahead of the game: Antecedents for the success of shared service centers," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 477-488.
    8. Daniel Harritz, 2018. "Forming and transforming shared services: the performativity of management devices," Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 216-233, June.
    9. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin Hitt, 1996. "Paradox Lost? Firm-Level Evidence on the Returns to Information Systems Spending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 541-558, April.
    10. Guido Schryen, 2013. "Revisiting IS business value research: what we already know, what we still need to know, and how we can get there," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 139-169, March.
    11. Yang, Yin & Liu, Qin & Song, Jin & Zhou, Ming, 2021. "The influence mechanism of financial shared service mode on the competitive advantage of enterprises from the perspective of organizational complexity: A force field analysis," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    12. Wamba, Samuel Fosso & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Akter, Shahriar & Ren, Steven Ji-fan & Dubey, Rameshwar & Childe, Stephen J., 2017. "Big data analytics and firm performance: Effects of dynamic capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 356-365.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Prasanna Tambe & Lorin M. Hitt, 2014. "Measuring Information Technology Spillovers," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 53-71, March.
    2. Surendra Gera & Wulong Gu, 2004. "The Effect of Organizational Innovation and Information and Communications Technology on Firm Performance," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 9, pages 37-51, Fall.
    3. Zand, Fardad & Van Beers, Cees & Van Leeuwen, George, 2011. "Information technology, organizational change and firm productivity: A panel study of complementarity effects and clustering patterns in Manufacturing and Services," MPRA Paper 46469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. José Benítez-Amado & María Nieves Pérez-Aróstegui, 2007. "A New Classification Of It Resources: A Research Agenda Under The Complementarity Of The Rbv," FEG Working Paper Series 07/06, Faculty of Economics and Business (University of Granada).
    5. Sadaf Bashir & Bert Sadowski, 2014. "General Purpose Technologies: A Survey, a Critique and Future Research Directions," Working Papers 14-02, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2014.
    6. Vincent J. Shea & Kevin E. Dow & Alain Yee-Loong Chong & Eric W. T. Ngai, 0. "An examination of the long-term business value of investments in information technology," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-15.
    7. Mohamad, Amri & Zainuddin, Yuserrie & Alam, Nafis & Kendall, Graham, 2017. "Does decentralized decision making increase company performance through its Information Technology infrastructure investment?," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-15.
    8. Sinan Aral & Peter Weill, 2007. "IT Assets, Organizational Capabilities, and Firm Performance: How Resource Allocations and Organizational Differences Explain Performance Variation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(5), pages 763-780, October.
    9. Leonardo Becchetti & Fabrizio Adriani, 2005. "Does the digital divide matter? The role of information and communication technology in cross-country level and growth estimates," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 435-453.
    10. Hu, Qing & Quan, Jing “Jim”, 2005. "Evaluating the impact of IT investments on productivity: a causal analysis at industry level," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 39-53.
    11. Taha Havakhor & Rajiv Sabherwal & Zachary R. Steelman & Sanjiv Sabherwal, 2019. "Relationships Between Information Technology and Other Investments: A Contingent Interaction Model," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 291-305, March.
    12. Byungtae Lee & Anitesh Barua, 1999. "An Integrated Assessment of Productivity and Efficiency Impacts of Information Technology Investments: Old Data, New Analysis and Evidence," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 21-43, August.
    13. Emanuele Gabriel Margherita & Alessio Maria Braccini, 2023. "Industry 4.0 Technologies in Flexible Manufacturing for Sustainable Organizational Value: Reflections from a Multiple Case Study of Italian Manufacturers," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 995-1016, June.
    14. K. Sudhir & Debabrata Talukdar, 2015. "The “Peter Pan Syndrome” in Emerging Markets: The Productivity-Transparency Trade-off in IT Adoption," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 500-521, July.
    15. Moez Bellaaj, 2008. "Technologies De L'Information Et Performance Organisationnelle : Différentes Approches D'Évaluation," Post-Print halshs-00522342, HAL.
    16. Vincent J. Shea & Kevin E. Dow & Alain Yee-Loong Chong & Eric W. T. Ngai, 2019. "An examination of the long-term business value of investments in information technology," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 213-227, February.
    17. Anandhi S. Bharadwaj & Sundar G. Bharadwaj & Benn R. Konsynski, 1999. "Information Technology Effects on Firm Performance as Measured by Tobin's q," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 1008-1024, July.
    18. Zheng, Min & Huang, Rong & Wang, Xintong & Li, Xiaorong, 2023. "Do firms adopting cloud computing technology exhibit higher future performance? A textual analysis approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Chou, Yen-Chun & Hao-Chun Chuang, Howard & Shao, Benjamin B.M., 2014. "The impacts of information technology on total factor productivity: A look at externalities and innovations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 290-299.
    20. Seung Hyun Kim & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 2011. "Determining Optimal CRM Implementation Strategies," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 624-639, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:infotm:v:25:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s10799-023-00391-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.