Intra-Organisational Barriers to Business-IT Alignment

Abstract

Business-IT Alignment (BITA) remains a challenging endeavour for many organisations despite the continuous attention it garnered among researchers and practitioners. The literature provides a list of factors determining whether organisations succeed to achieve BITA or not. However, BITA studies were conducted in a few industries in developed countries. This case study is aimed at addressing the lack of BITA studies in developing countries. The data was collected from a bank in Ethiopia through interviews and internal documents. The study employed thematic analysis, which revealed 21 intra-organisational barriers to BITA. Business and IT leaders may find the result of the study invaluable to plan activities that might overcome these barriers and improve BITA maturity, which in turn improves overall organisational performance.