Resource-Based Perspective on ICT Use and Firm Performance: A Meta-analysis Investigating the Moderating Role of Cross-Country ICT Development Status

Over the past few decades, Resource-based view (RBV ) has emerged as a critical theory explaining firm performance. Since the early 1990s, many studies have explored RBV’s claim that there is a positive relationship between firms ’ strategic resources and their performance. Though Information and Communication Technology (IC T) is considered a strategic resource for organizations, the existing literature on ICT and Firm Performance Relationship report heterogeneous outcomes dependin g on different ICT tools (general purpose technologies and enabling technologies). Th is eterogeneity in outcomes necessitates a meta-analysis to comprehend the dire ction and the scope of the relationship between ICT and firm performance. Besides, whether ICT and firm performance relationship depends on the status of the ICT devel opment status of a country or not is not apparent in the existing literature. To address thi s research gap, this meta-analysis combines the results of more than twenty years of research o n h w the presence of ICT development context of different countries impacts the relation ship between ICT and firm performance. Thus, this meta-analysis synthesizes the existing l iterature on this topic by analysing 106 studies with a total of 271527 observations, and th erefore, adds value to the empirical and theory-driven research in the field of Strategic En trepreneurship, Entrepreneurial ecosystem, and Business Performance.