Infoeconomics

Abstract

The chapter discusses economics of informing or infoeconomics, which refers to costs and benefits of informing agents and to their contribution to organizational performance. Controversies questioning contributions of IT/IS to productivity (IT productivity paradox) and to competitiveness (IT commodification argument) are discussed. Several methods of assessing costs and benefits of informing agents are proposed. Assessing benefits from IT/IS, data, and knowledge is challenging since their impact is usually not immediately visible. The challenges have become more pressing with the data analytics and big data trends. Several research cases are used to demonstrate relationships between IVO aspects and infoeconomics. It is argued that a business process management model and balanced scorecard methodology are reliable guides for study and management of infoeconomics. The implications of big data and cloud computing on infoeconomics are discussed throughout the chapter.