IT-business Strategic Alignment Research Articles

BUSINESS–IT STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT MATURITY:
 PREDICTING THE IMPACT ON TRANSFORMATIONAL STRATEGY
 AND BUSINESS RESULTS

Academic and management literature hypothesize that organizations that adopt organizational and management practices (“complementary factors”) that improve IT-business communications and partnership are better able to transform their business models. This implies that these firms obtain higher productivity and profitability from IT investments than organizations with comparable levels of IT investment. This study employs a stage-growth model (the “strategic alignment maturity model”) that focuses on the evolution of a bilateral and ideally co-adaptive relationship between business and information technology functions to empirically test that hypothesis. Employing the results of a survey of pharmaceutical industry business and IT executives, this research provides new insights into the relationship between IT-business strategic alignment maturity and firm-level productivity and profitability. This study also helps to quantify important “complementary factors” that provide transformational impact on a firm’s production function by its investments in IT.

Leveraging CIO Power to Enhance the Relationship Between Social Alignment and IT-Business Strategic Alignment

To give Information Technology (IT) a more central role in an organization and avoid disrupting the existing executive team power balance, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) should only leverage their power in certain situations. We propose CIOs can leverage their expert, prestige, and structural power attributes to influence the social–intellectual alignment relationship versus the social–operational alignment relationship in unique ways. Analyzing data collected from 140 CIOs, the results suggest IT knowledge strengthens the social-strategic alignment relationship, business knowledge and structural power weaken the social–intellectual alignment relationship, and prestige power has no impact on the social-strategic alignment relationship. Implications of these findings are discussed.

IT Factors Influencing Organizational Excellence as Mediated by the Level of IT-Business Alignment: A Study of the Mining Sector in Jordan

This study aims to investigate intentionally selection of Information Technology (IT) factors influencing the organizational excellence. Moreover, the study measures the level of IT-business strategic alignment and its impact on organizational excellence as perceived by employees of Jordanian mining sector working in managerial positions. It is a quantitative study based on the use of a questionnaire designed to fulfill the key purpose of this study. A comprehensive sampling strategy is used to select the participants due to the limited population size (managerial positions). 150 questionnaires were personally distributed out of which 117 were analyzed. SPSS.22 and AMOS.23 were used to analyze the data and to test the study hypotheses. The study revealed the levels of IT-business strategic alignment, as well as the level of organizational excellence within the context of JMS, are medium as perceived by employees. Moreover, it is revealed that IT-business related factors (namely: IT capabilities, perceived value of IT, and senior executive support for IT) have a direct significant statistical impact on organizational excellence within the context of JMS as perceived by employees. The study also found that the level of IT-Business strategic alignment has a direct significant statistical impact on the organizational excellence of JMS as perceived by employees. Nonetheless, only two IT factor. IT capabilities and perceived value of IT were found to have an indirect impact on the organizational excellence in JMS as mediated by the level of IT-business strategic alignment of JMS as perceived by employees. In addition, more concern should be directed toward IT capabilities and perceived value of IT as the most influential factors on both strategic alignment level as well as organizational excellence.

An Analysis the Relationship between IT-Business Strategic Alignment and Intangible IT Resources on the Competitive Advantages Sustainability Moderating Effect of IT Personnel Capability

Understanding the relationship between IT Business Strategic Alignment (ITBSA), IT Personnel Capabilities (ITPC), and Intangible IT Resources (IITR) is utmost important. Strategic scholars and professionals looks to these three strategic resources as the main driver of generating distinctive competencies which in turn become the main source of creating sustainable competitive advantages (SCA). The aim of this study is to establish and understand a new path between three strategic inputs on the SCA which overlooked in the literature and thereby there is a need to cover this critical gap. The main objective of this paper is to determine whether IT personnel capability will influence directly and/or indirectly (moderating role) on the relationship between IT business strategic alignment and intangible IT resources towards creating SCA. Hence, this paper question to what extent capability of IT personnel is able to strengthen the relationship between ITBSA and ITPC on the SCA. Applying, Resources-based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capability View (DCV), this paper intended to investigate the role of IT personnel capability on enabling firm’s strategic resources such as ITBSA and IITR on SCA achievement. Therefore, in order to achieve the proposed objectives and answering the questions of this study, the author will apply cross sectional survey for collecting appropriate data from IT managers among Algerian high-tech industry. Implications and suggestions will be discussed.

An empirical study of the role of IT flexibility and IT capability in IT-business strategic alignment

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to contribute to the current discussion on strategic alignment of information technology and business (strategic alignment) by developing a model for conceptualizing how strategic alignment can be enabled through of IT flexibility and IT capability.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire instrument was created to measure the constructs and it was assessed in a pretest and two pilot-tests. The main data set was collected from IT managers (or similar titles) of medium- and large-sized firms.FindingsStrategic alignment seems to be moving closer to firms’ core activity in today’s business environment. The findings revealed that strategic alignment was significantly affected by four dimensions of IT flexibility and IT capability. Furthermore, the significant role of two dimensions of IT flexibility in IT capability was supported.Research limitations/implicationsSingle key informants were used for data collection that could be a potential limitation.Practical implicationsIt seems likely that firms will benefit from the results to manage and control their scarce IT resources more effectively for aligning IT with business strategies, goals and needs.Originality/valueStrategic alignment has become a more complex and unstructured phenomenon and many firms are still considering how to reconcile to it. Furthermore, the lack of empirical examination of IT flexibility and IT capability in relation to strategic alignment from important perspectives, and the lack of research of the dimensions of IT flexibility for supporting IT capability, determines the purpose of this study.

The evolution of the business-IT strategic alignment process: key insights and emergent views from a 40-year period (1975-2014)

The evolution of the business-IT strategic alignment process: key insights and emergent views from a 40-year period (1975-2014)

The evolution of the business-IT strategic alignment process: key insights and emergent views from a 40-year period (1975-2014)

The process of business-information technology strategic alignment (BITSA) has been consistently ranked as a top priority by chief information officers (CIOs) and extensively studied for over three decades. Constructs on the BITSA process, frameworks for understanding its main components, models for predicting its successful occurrence, and methods for guiding toward a successful BITSA process have been reported. However, the BITSA literature appears as contrasted and fragmented for researchers, and copious and ambiguous for CIOs. Thus, in this paper we conduct a selective yet intensive literature review on the BITSA process with the aim to provide a summary of core concepts, an evolution model, and an account of theoretical and practical implications. Through this literature review, a four-stage evolution model of BITSA emerges and an updated view of the BITSA process as a complex adaptive system is supported.

Analysis of IT infrastructure flexibility impacts on IT-Business strategic alignment

Purpose: To explore the impacts of IT infrastructure flexibility components (connectivity, modularity, compatibility, and IT personnel flexibility) on IT-business strategic alignment using Luftman’s strategic alignment maturity model.Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed using 5-points Likert scale. The questionnaire was distributed to companies in Indonesia, where 48 companies filled the questionnaire completely. The data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) approach using WarpPLS version 3.0.Findings: This research found that amongst four components of IT infrastructure flexibility, only compatibility that gives a positive and significant impact to IT-business strategic alignment. This finding is remarkably in contrast to what had been found by Chung et al (2003) in which connectivity, modularity and IT personnel flexibility showed a positive impact on strategic alignment while compatibility did not. Research limitations: This research used small sample size. More respondents are required to obtain more general conclusions. Practical implications: The findings of this study can be input for IT investment initiatives by first focusing on compatibility aspect of IT infrastructure which is considered having the most significant influence on strategic alignment.Originality/value: Previous study investigated IT infrastructure flexibility as a single concept, whereas our research investigated the components of IT infrastructure flexibility and their impact on strategic alignment.

Six types of IT-business strategic alignment: an investigation of the constructs and their measurement

Top management has been concerned with IT-business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) for the past 30 years. Consequently, alignment researchers have developed many models to explain how alignment generates value for firms. However, these models use inconsistent definitions and measures of alignment, which has led to conflicting results and has potentially inhibited the progress of research on this critical topic. This paper emphasizes the importance of demarcating the six alignment types that are sometimes confused in the literature into a single, unified model. It also reports on the development of definitions and measures of these six types of alignment including alignment between IT and business strategies (i.e., intellectual alignment), between IT and business infrastructures and processes (i.e., operational alignment), and across these two domains such that strategies are linked with infrastructures and processes (i.e., four types of cross-domain alignment). Analyzing survey data collected from 140 Chief Information Officers, we found each measure possesses desirable psychometric properties. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Looking toward the future of IT-bUSINESS strategic alignment through the past

Research examining the relationship between IT-business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) and firm performance (hereafter referred to as performance) has produced apparently ...

Looking Toward the Future of IT-Business Strategic Alignment through the Past: A Meta-Analysis

Research examining the relationship between IT-business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) and firm performance (hereafter referred to as performance) has produced apparently conflicting findings (i.e., an alignment paradox). To examine the alignment paradox, we conducted a meta-analysis that probed the interrelationships between alignment, performance, and context constructs. We found the alignment dimensions (intellectual, operational, and cross-domain) demonstrate unique relationships with the different performance types (financial performance, productivity, and customer benefit) and with many of the other constructs in alignment's nomological network. All mean corrected correlations between dimensions of alignment and dependent variables were positive and most of the credibility interval values in these analyses were also positive. Overall, the evidence gathered from the extant literature suggests there is not much of an alignment paradox. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the relationships between alignment and performance outcomes and offering insight into sources of inconsistencies in alignment research. By doing so, this paper lays a foundation for more consistent treatment of alignment in future IT research.

The Matching and Evolutionary Path Model of IT and Business Alignment Based on Dynamic Capabilities

The good match of IT and business is an important prerequisite to ensure business strategy and the value of enterprise information investments. With the intensive application of IT and the rapidly changing of environment, the match of IT and business should be more concerned about its dynamic characteristics and evolution law. Based on the research analysis of IT and business matching, the strategic alignment model (SAM model) and the business-IT strategic alignment maturity model (LAM model), the paper introduces the dynamic capabilities to build an IT and business matching and evolutionary path model under the action of dynamic capabilities. In the model, nine paths and four steps are proposed to describe the matching and evolution of IT and business. The roles of dynamic capabilities are explained in describing the matching and evolution paths, such as perception, capital-and technology path dependence, learning, dynamic feedback, resource restructuring and reconfiguration, team, coordination and innovation etc. It has a strong reference to the deep research of IT and business alignment, matching and evolutionary path and the enterprise information technology applications.

The Matching and Evolutionary Path Model of IT and Business Alignment Based on Dynamic Capabilities

The good match of IT and business is an important prerequisite to ensure business strategy and the value of enterprise information investments. With the intensive application of IT and the rapidly changing of environment, the match of IT and business should be more concerned about its dynamic characteristics and evolution law. Based on the research analysis of IT and business matching, the strategic alignment model (SAM model) and the business-IT strategic alignment maturity model (LAM model), the paper introduces the dynamic capabilities to build an IT and business matching and evolutionary path model under the action of dynamic capabilities. In the model, nine paths and four steps are proposed to describe the matching and evolution of IT and business. The roles of dynamic capabilities are explained in describing the matching and evolution paths, such as perception, capital-and technology path dependence, learning, dynamic feedback, resource restructuring and reconfiguration, team, coordination and innovation etc. It has a strong reference to the deep research of IT and business alignment, matching and evolutionary path and the enterprise information technology applications.

Evaluating IT Governance Practices and Business and IT Outcomes: A quantitative Exploratory Study in Brazilian Companies

Abstract Information technology (IT) governance is an important organizational ability to promote IT-business strategic alignment and IT value delivery to businesses. To implement IT governance, businesses can utilize a set of practices associated with decision-making structures, processes, and relational mechanisms; however, the specific contributions of these different practices remain poorly understood. This paper presents the results of a study that sought to (1) develop a measurement instrument for IT governance practices, and based on this instrument, (2) identify different organizational profiles in terms of IT governance practices, business results, and maturity. Quantitative data were collected from a sample 652 Brazilian companies. Factorial and clusters analyses were applied to develop a measurement instrument and identify the companies’ profiles, respectively. IT governance maturity and the achievement of business and IT outcomes were compared. Based on this analysis, this study indicates how businesses can be successful in terms of IT governance practices, and it presents potential deficiencies based on organizations with lower IT and business results.

The impact of IT-business strategic alignment on firm performance in a developing country setting: exploring moderating roles of environmental uncertainty and strategic orientation

Aligning information technology (IT) strategy with business strategy has been one of the top concerns of practitioners and scholars for decades. Although numerous studies have documented positive effects of IT-business alignment on organizational performance, our knowledge about this relationship is still limited due to the complexity of contingent factors. The extant literature is largely based on research in the context of developed countries and few studies have explicitly considered the effects of contextual factors such as market environment and competitive strategy on this relationship. In this study, we attempt to fill these gaps by testing the alignment–performance relationship in a developing country setting and investigating the moderating roles of environmental uncertainty and strategic orientation on the performance effects of strategic alignment using survey data collected in Turkey. Our analyses show that this positive effect is statistically significant in highly uncertain environments and varies across performance measures. Our results also show that the strategic alignment between IT and business has a significant impact on performance across all choices of strategic orientation – defender, prospector, or analyzer. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future research directions are explored.

Relationships among Strategic Management, Strategic Behaviors, Emotional Intelligence, IT-business Strategic Alignment, Motivation, and Communication Effectiveness

In today's strategic management, motivation in organizations of Iran plays a main role in relationship betweenemotional intelligence and communication effectiveness. The paper is undertaken to understand the strategicbehavior and motivation with relationship between managers’ emotional intelligence and employees to improvecommunication effectiveness in organizations of Iran. Data (N=123) for this study were collected throughquestionnaires that participants were managers and employees of educational administrations and AgriculturalBank of Iran. The aim of this paper assesses the emotional intelligence with communication effectiveness andmotivation as moderator in educational administrations and Agricultural Bank of Iran. Strategic managementplays an important role in strategic behaviors of managers and employees in organizations. Further, on the otherhand, strategic management has a positive relationship with strategic alignment and strategic alignment canimpact motivation in this study. Effective strategic alignment has a positive effect on the motivation of managersand employees in organizations of Iran. Additionally emotional intelligence influenced by strategic behavior inthis relationship. The result of the paper shows a strong correspondence between motivation with the relationshipbetween emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness. Also strategic management has a positiverelationship with strategic behavior; on the other hand, relationship with strategic alignment that can influence motivation in educational administrations and Agricultural Bank of Iran.

Assessing the Impact of IT Connectivity and IT Capability on IT-Business Strategic Alignment: An Empirical Study

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.

Applying the Triangulation Approach in IT – Business Strategic Alignment and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

While researchers have encouraged more research on the causal chains between information technology investments and Business performance, the results of empirical studies have been inconclusive. This is partly due to the exclusion of IT-business strategic alignment. This study has examined the impact of IT-business strategic alignment antecedents in terms of leadership, structure and process, service quality, and value and belief on IT business strategic alignment in terms of alignment gap, followed by the impact of IT-business strategic alignment on sustainable competitive advantage. In order to explore the above research relationships, the study further utilizes the positivism paradigm by applying a mixed research method both quantitative and qualitative data. Such triangulation would help to provide more insight into the issues studied in this research. Particularly, this study has tested the research model by conducting 172 survey questionnaires with public shareholding firms in Jordan. After that, the study conducted several follow-up interviews in Jordan in order to further validate the research results. Thus, the results obtained from the structural equation modeling (SEM technique and supplementary qualitative analysis of the interviews offer a valuable insight into the research. However, the universal applicability of this research may be limited due to the fact that the results are based only on the cross-sectional data from the Jordanian public shareholding firms. Consequently, further research is needed with regards to several countries since this would help to advance understanding of the IT-business strategic alignment issue and the conditions and outcomes of achieving it in different contexts.

The Relationships Between IT Flexibility, IT-Business Strategic Alignment, and IT Capability

What seems to still be the main concern for managers in the corporate world across the globe is ITbusiness strategic alignment. This study seeks to address the research problem about the lack of alignment between IT and business strategies. Upon reviewing various literature on this subject, it was found that IT flexibility is one of the most vital factors that help sustain strategic alignment. The researcher upon having a detailed discussion on the possible areas associated with the present body of knowledge has discovered gaps in the studies that have been undertaken on strategic alignment and IT flexibility. This is because IT capability in relation to IT flexibility and strategic alignment has been ignored in the previous studies. As a result, this research proposes a relationship between IT flexibility (i.e., modularity, connectivity and compatibility), IT capability, and strategic alignment.

Factors influencing IT-Business Strategic Alignment and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Preceding research attributed the lack of direct causal impact of Information Technology (IT) on firm’s sustainable competitive advantage. Numerous missing links include antecedents of the ITbusiness strategic alignment (also known as strategic alignment) and the sustainable competitive advantage. Furthermore, reviewers of recent literature have called for more research into the factors that affect strategic alignment, and the linkage between alignment and sustainable competitive advantage. In this paper, we develop and empirically test specific forms of management structures and processes which are required to drive strategic alignment. Further, we propose a causal-chain model to examine the impacts of six antecedents on strategic alignment. The data are collected from over 172 Jordanian public shareholding firms. Using structural equation modeling for data analysis, this study finds general support for the hypotheses that leadership, values and belief, IT managerial resources, service quality, and IT implementation successes significantly impact IT-business strategic alignment. However, no relationship is found between structure and process and strategic alignment.