ABSTRACT
This research focuses on the role of collaborative Information Technology (IT) tools to enhance the effectiveness of Hastily Formed Networks (HFNs) at the group level. Collaborative IT tools are an integrated set of functionalities that enable collaboration among inter-connected entities. Despite their widely touted potential to enhance various types of planned and ad hoc networks (e.g., HFNs), we still know little about whether, how, and why these IT tools can support HFNs, especially in the information-intensive environments that characterize most Naval operations.

This paper first introduces the construct of ‘Collaborative IT Tools Leveraging Capability' as the ability of work groups to effectively leverage collaborative IT tools to enhance their group activities to support HFNs. Collaborative IT Tools Leveraging Capability is conceptualized as a second-order construct formed by the group's effective use of six key IT functionalities - workspace sharing, conferencing, file sharing, scheduling, chat, and email – that are commonly present in collaborative IT tools.

This study then examines ways to enhance the effectiveness of HFNs through the user's effective leveraging of collaborative IT tools by examining the following network performance outcomes - (a) HFN efficiency, (b) situational awareness of the HFN, (c) and HFN project effectiveness. The proposed effects of ‘Collaborative IT Tools Leveraging Capability' on HFN performance is hypothesized to be more pronounced in information intensive environments.

Finally, to enhance a group's ability to effectively leverage collaborative IT tools, the study proposes a set of enabling factors: customization of the collaborative IT tools, group habits in using collaborative IT tools, the group's perceived usefulness and ease of use of collaborative IT tools, the group member's mutual trust, and the degree of environmental intensity.

Data from 365 group managers support the proposed structural model with the nature, antecedents, and consequences of Collaborative IT Tools Leveraging Capability at different levels of environmental intensity. The paper discusses the study's contributions to our better understanding the nature of Collaborative IT Tools Leveraging Capability in the context of HFNs, its impact on HFN performance, and how it can be enhanced to facilitate HFN.