UCI Business School Grant to Study Computers’ Impact

What is the economic impact of investments in information technology? Why do some organizations reap greater benefits from computers than others? How have computers affected family life?

UC Irvine’s Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations hopes to find out. The center, part of UCI’s business school, is receiving $2.5 million over five years from the National Science Foundation, several major corporations and the university to do research on the economic and societal impact of computing.

Kenneth Kraemer, a UCI professor who heads the center, explained that knowledge of technology’s impact on the world remains limited to some relatively narrow studies and anecdotal evidence. He plans to conduct in-depth, long-range studies that could provide more definitive answers.

One area that Kraemer hopes to study is the highly expensive computer systems used to manage corporations’ global operations. He wants to find out why some companies have had success with these systems while others have failed. Another research topic might be to determine the true cost of outsourcing the management of information systems. He also wants to discover exactly how families are using personal computers, and how PCs affect interaction among family members.

“We’re interested, very broadly, in what are the returns to investments in information technology--what is the return to the U.S. economy and economies around the world,” he said. “That’s the question [Federal Reserve Board chairman] Alan Greenspan asks every time he testifies before Congress. A lot of people believe computers contribute to economic growth and reduce inflation. But that has yet to be demonstrated. There’s some evidence, but there’s also a lot of controversy.”

Another important question, he said, is whether technology allows developing countries to leapfrog to developed status. Again, he said, there’s some evidence that it does--but no definitive proof.