The role of human capital on organizational information technology capabilities: an alternative approach

In a constantly changing world, the abilities that organizations must collect, organize, and implement information technology resources (IT), that is, their organizational IT capabilities are increasingly recognized as fundamental to achieving superior organizational performance. In this context, the role of IT human resources is often stressed, but its nature and its relationship to IT capabilities are unclear. Thus, from the literature on human capital and theories of vision based on dynamic resources and capabilities, the present work discusses the particularities of the IT human capital and its role on the IT capabilities. For this purpose, responses from chief information officers from 246 public institutions operating in Brazil. were analyzed, based on structural equation modeling. The analyzes indicated that IT human capital has multidimensional characteristics composed of three factors: i) interpersonal skills, ii) technical skills, iii) team members' relationship with the technology itself. In addition, IT human capital is presented as an antecedent of IT capabilities, not an intrinsic factor, as is commonly presented in the literature of the area. The study presents an objective and empirically tested way to measure and assess the impact of IT human resources. Paths are also pointed out so that organizations can recruit and develop IT human capital prepared to face constantly changing environments.