Bridging the IT Value Gap: A Narrative Review and Research Agenda for Customer-Centric IT Business Value

Abstract

Research on information technology business value (ITBV) has long emphasized firm-level assessments grounded in accounting metrics, productivity models, and systems-focused frameworks. While these approaches provide important insights into the organizational impacts of IT, such as efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantages, they predominantly reflect an internal perspective that overlooks the customer-mediated dimensions of value creation. Recent scholarship argues that ITBV must be understood not only through internal process improvements but also through customers’ perceptions, experiences, and willingness to pay. These external indicators better capture the relational and experiential outcomes increasingly central to digital-era business performance. The literature further highlights the role of complementary resources, environmental factors, and specific IT capabilities in shaping ITBV, yet these considerations alone remain insufficient for capturing how value materializes across stakeholder domains. This narrative review synthesizes the evolution of ITBV research and identifies significant gaps related to the limited use of intangible, non-financial, and customer-centric metrics. The findings underscore the need for more holistic assessment models that integrate firm-level and customer-level indicators and emphasize experiential value delivered through IT-enabled services. The review concludes by calling for empirical research that leverages subjective customer data, explores willingness-to-pay metrics, and examines the indirect pathways through which IT capabilities shape market outcomes and long-term competitive advantage.