Abstract
The literature argues that organizations cannot be competitive if their business and information technology strategies are not aligned. Yet achieving strategic alignment continues to be a main concern for business executives. So this research seeks to address the research problem of the lack of alignment between IT strategy and business strategy. Past studies have shown that flexibility in IT is an influential aspect of sustaining strategic alignment in today's environment while researches on dimensions of IT flexibility regarding strategic alignment are limited. One of the most important dimensions of IT flexibility is connectivity which the research has considered this dimension. Further, the researchers have found that IT capability in regard to strategic alignment and IT connectivity has been ignored in the prior studies. Thus, this research for filling this gap proposed and empirically assessed the relationships among IT connectivity, IT capability, and strategic alignment. Data for this study were collected through questionnaires filled up by IT managers of organizations in United Arab Emirates. The findings indicated IT connectivity and IT capability have a significant positive effect on strategic alignment and IT connectivity has also a positive impact on IT capability.
Highlights
As Grembergen and Haes (2009) observed, IT and its use in business settings have undergone drastic changes in the past few decades
Organizations are looking at IT connectivity as the main and fundamental competency that is required in order for organizations to exist and grow in the environments today
The researcher upon having a detailed discussion on the possible areas associated to the present body of knowledge has discovered gaps in the studies that have been done on strategic alignment and IT flexibility
Summary
As Grembergen and Haes (2009) observed, IT and its use in business settings have undergone drastic changes in the past few decades. A very apparent fact in literature is the function of strategic positioning among IT and business policies as a vital part of an organization’s performance (Brown, 2004; Kearns and Lederer, 2001) and competitive advantage (Grant, 1991) This strategic alignment between IT and business goals has proved to enhance organizational efficacy (Chan and Huff, 1993), get the most out of return on investment (Feidler, Gorver and Teg, 1995), enable organizations to improve on managing their business needs on the whole, technology, and rivals (Boar, AT and T Bell Laboratories, 1994) and offer stability in a company (Labovitz and Rosansky, 1997). Reviewing the respective literature indicated that IT capability has been ignored with regard to strategic alignment that based on available literature and strong arguments we can propose a significant relationship between IT capability and strategic alignment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
