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ABSTRACT

This paper presents an analysis of data collected from 94 Chinese firms about the development of their IT budgets and other variables in the period from 1989 to 2001. The purpose of this study is to revisit an early proposition by Nolan and colleagues regarding corporate IT purchasing behavior, called the Stages Hypothesis. We find that the Stages Hypothesis cannot be viewed as a general theory describing the IT purchasing behavior of firms; however, the development of the IT budget of some mostly large firms in our sample is consistent with the Stages Hypothesis. Based on further analyses, we offer a new interpretation of the Stages Hypothesis.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.m Miscellaneous

Keywords:
Chinese companies, IT management, IT spending, diffusion of innovations, organizational learning, stages hypothesis