The relationships between information management, process management and operational performance: Internal and external contexts

The role of information in supporting processes in firms' operations has become increasingly important. In today's competitive market, information management has become a “prerequisite” for process management. This study examines the role of information management as the driver of process management and its impact on operational performance. Specifically, we distinguish the contextual factors of the variables used in this study in terms of internal and external aspects that reflect intra-firm and inter-firm boundaries. Using a data set drawn from 202 manufacturing firms in Australia, we find that both internal information management and external information management have positive relationships with both internal process management and external process management. Internal process management has positive effects on both internal and external operational performance, but external process management only has a positive effect on external operational performance. Finally, both internal and external operational performance have positive effects on business performance. We conclude by discussing the implications and contributions of the findings.