How enterprise architecture influences strategic alignment maturity: structural equation modelling

Abstract

Despite increasing investment on IT projects, the business expectations have not yet been met. Hence, proving the value of IT investment is the fundamental debate of information system (IS) researches. In particular, IT-business alignment is critically important because of its substantial impact on the value generated by the investment in IT. Strategic alignment remains a top concern for business and IT executives; therefore, organisations have deployed different approaches to reach strategic alignment and competitive advantage. Enterprise architecture (EA) has been viewed as an effective approach for managing IT assets, aligning IT investment and business requirements and yet, empirical research on how EA building blocks effect strategic alignment is lagging. This paper empirically investigates the relationship between EA building blocks and strategic alignment and indicates that EA would be viewed as an enabler for strategic alignment maturity.