Information technology investment governance: What is it and does it matter?

• We report the development of measures of IT investment governance (ITIG).
• It can be used to measure organizations' capability to govern their IT investments measures.
• Such measurement can be used to guide BOD and top management in IT investments.
• ITIG is a multidimensional construct consisting of four factors.
• They are value governance, value monitoring, investment appraisals and project management.

While the growth in the number of IT investments remains strong, research in the IT investment field is limited, resulting in suboptimal practical guidance on effectively governing IT investments. Based on resource-based theory, this paper reports the initial work involved in developing a construct named IT investment governance (ITIG), because it can be used to measure organizations' capability to govern their IT investments. This paper then empirically examines the association of ITIG and corporate performance. The preliminary result is a four-factor, 16-item instrument for assessing the ITIG construct. This method's factors are IT investment value governance, IT investment value monitoring, IT investment appraisals and IT investment project management. The impact of ITIG on corporate performance was demonstrated with a significant and positive relationship found to exist between the ITIG construct and corporate performance, thus supporting the effectiveness of the ITIG construct. Corporations with higher levels of ITIG capability are more likely to maximize the contribution of their IT investments to firm value.