Developing a socio‐technical framework for business‐IT alignment
| Pages | 1167-1181 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570810914874 |
| Published date | 31 October 2008 |
| Date | 31 October 2008 |
| Author | Sang M. Lee,Kihyun Kim,Patrick Paulson,Hyesung Park |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Developing a socio-technical
framework for
business-IT alignment
Sang M. Lee
Department of Management, College of Business Administration,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Kihyun Kim and Patrick Paulson
Management Information Systems and Operations Department,
College of Business, Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota, USA, and
Hyesung Park
Assessment and Institutional Research, Winona State University,
Winona, Minnesota, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for evaluating business-IT
alignment. Specifically, the authors emphasize internal business-IT alignment between business and
IS groups, which is a typical setting in recent boundary-less, networked business environments.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on the previous studies, a socio-technical approach was
developed to explain how the functional integration in the business-IT alignment process could be
accomplished in collaborative environments. The study investigates the relationship among social
alignment, technical alignment, IS effectiveness, and business performance.
Findings – The results indicated that alignment between business and IS groups increased IS
effectiveness and business performance. Business-IT alignment resulting from socio-technical
arrangements in firms’ infrastructure has positive impacts on business performance.
Research limitations/implications – This study is limited by control issues in terms of the impact
of the confounding variables on business performance. Future studies need to validate the research
model across industries. The study results imply that business-IT alignment is a multidimensional
concept that includes social and technical activities explaining the way people and information
technology institutionalize business value.
Originality/value – By establishing a socio-technical framework of business-IT alignment, this
study proposes a conceptual framework for business-IT alignment that accounts for not only
improved technical performance, but also improved human performance as well. This study
emphasizes the importance of addressing internal socio-technical collaboration in modern business
environments.
Keywords Communicationtechnologies, Strategic planning
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
IT investment has been an important issue to senior executives as IT investment is one
of the major budget items in most businesses. Management literature has shown
contradictory results on the impact of IT investments on performance (Sircar et al.,
2000) meaning that IT investment can improve business performance under certain
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Developing a
socio-technical
framework
1167
Received 8 April 2008
Revised 1 July 2008
Accepted 18 July 2008
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 108 No. 9, 2008
pp. 1167-1181
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/02635570810914874
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