IT - Business Strategic Alignment and Organizational Agility: The Moderating Role of Environmental Uncertainty

Subject Areas : Business Strategy

Sepideh  Heydari ¹ (Department of Business Management, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran)
Mehrdad  Hosseini Shakib ² (Department of Industrial Management, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran)
Abbas  Khamseh ³ (Department of Industrial Management, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran)

Received: 2019-03-18 Accepted : 2020-05-06 Published : 2020-06-21

Keywords: IT Capability, IT-Business Strategic Alignment, Organizational Agility, Environmental uncertainty, IT Flexibility,

Abstract :

This study investigates the effect of IT-business strategic alignment on organizational agility by considering the effects of IT flexibility and IT capability on strategic alignment. Also this study investigates the moderating role of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between strategic alignment and organizational agility. This research is an applied research based on purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection. The statistical population consists of 330 people who work in Telecommunication Company. In this research, library method and researcher-made questionnaire were used for data collection. Its validity was confirmed by content related validity and using confirmatory factor analysis. Also Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for its reliability. AMOS software was used to examine the relationships between the structures that formed the research hypotheses. For analyzing the moderator, Hierarchical regression analysis was used by SPSS. Finally, the results stated that IT capability and IT flexibility have a significant impact on IT-Business strategic alignment and IT-business strategic alignment has a significant impact on organizational agility, but hypothesis 4, which related to the moderating role of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between strategic alignment and organizational agility, was not confirmed.

References:

Abdolvand N. and   Sepehri M. M. (2016), "Antecedents of Strategic Information Systems Alignment in Iran", Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 19(2):80-103.

Al-Surmi, A., Guangming C., and Yanqing D., (2020), "The impact of aligning business, IT, and marketing strategies on firm performance." Industrial Marketing Management, 84, pp. 39-49.

Chen, Y., Jin, J., Wang, Y., Nevo, S., Wang, L. and Chow, W. S. (2014), “IT capability and organizational performance: the roles of business process agility and environmental factors”, European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 23No. 3,pp. 326-342.

Dove, R. (2001), Response Ability: The Language, Structure, and Culture of the Agile Enterprise, John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.

Fink L. and Neumann S. (2009), “Exploring the perceived business value of the flexibility enabled by information technology infrastructure”, Information & Management, 46(2): 90-99.

Harsch, K. and Festing, M., (2020)."Dynamic talent management capabilities and organizational agility—A qualitative exploration." Human Resource Management, 59(1), pp. 43-61.

Heydari, S. (2019), "Investigating the effect of IT-business strategic alignment by considering the IT flexibility and IT capability on organizational agility with the Moderating Role of Environmental Uncertainty (Case Study:  Telecommunication Company)". MA thesis. KIAU.

Hoseini shakib, M. (2013), " Business and Manufacturing Strategies: a Model for Alignment (Case study: Iranian Automative Industry)", Shiraz Journal of System Management Vol. 1, No. 1, (2013), 35-44

Hosseini shakib M, Behfar F. (2015), The Study of Alignment between Corporate Strategy & Human Resource (HR) Strategy (Case Study: National Iranian Gas Company) . Human Resource Management in Oil Industry. 2015; 6 (23) :189-216.

Jorfi, S., Nor, KM., Najjar, L. (2011) “Assessing the Impact of IT Connectivity and IT Capability on IT-Business Strategic Alignment: An Empirical Study” , Journal of Computer and Information Science · Vol. 4, No. 3; May 2011 .

Jorfi, S., Nor, K. M. and Najjar, L.  (2017), "An empirical study of the role of IT flexibility and IT capability in IT-business strategic alignment", Journal of Systems and Information Technology, Vol. 19 No. 1/2, pp. 2-21. https://doi. org/10. 1108/JSIT-10-2016-0067

Khamseh, A., Vosough, R. M. (2017), "Identification and Prioritization of Factors Affecting Acceptance of FMCG Innovative Products in food industry ". Journal of Technology Development Management. Vol. 4, No. 4.

Koçu, Lorin,2018 “BUSINESS-IT ALIGNMENT EFFECTS ON BUSINESS AGILITY”. International Journal of Commerce and Finance; Istanbul Vol. 4, Iss. 2,  (Oct 2018): 60-93.

Luftman, J., Lyytinen, K. and ben Zvi, T. (2015), “Enhancing the measurement of information technology (IT) business alignment and its influence on company performance”, Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 32, No. 1,pp. 26-46.

Ness, L. R. (2005) assessing the relationships among IT flexibility, strategic alignment, and IT effectiveness: study overview and findings. Journal of Information Technology   Management, XVI (2), 1-17.

Newkirk, H. E. and Lederer, A. L. (2006), “The effectiveness of strategic information systems planning under environmental uncertainty” ,Information and Management,Vol. 43No. 4, pp. 481-501.

Panda, S. and Rath, S. K. (2016), “Investigating the structural linkage between IT capability and organizational agility: a study on Indian financial enterprises”, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 29No. 5,pp. 751-773.

Panda, S. and Rath, S. (2018), "Strategic IT-business alignment and organizational agility: from a developing country perspective", Journal of Asia Business Studies, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 422-440. https://doi. org/10. 1108/JABS-102016-0132 .

Rashidi, M. Cherabin, M, Akbari, A. and Maghool, A. (2019). Explaining an Organizational Agility Development Model. Journal of System Management 2019, Issue 2, pp. 211-224.

Tallon, P. P. (2008), "Inside the adaptive enterprise: an information technology capabilities perspective on business process agility.", Information technology and management, 9(1), pp. 21-36. DOI 10. 1007/s10799-007-0024-8

Tallon P. P. (2009), “How information technology infrastructure flexibility shapes strategic alignment: A case study, in W. R. e. King, (ed.), Planning for information systems”, Armonk, NY, USA: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., pp. 413-443.

Tallon, P.P., Pinsonneault, A. (2011), “Competing perspectives on the link between strategic information technology alignment and organizational agility: insights from a mediation model”, Mis Quarterly ,Vol.35No.2,pp.463-486.

Yayla, A. & Hu, Q. (2012)."The impact of IT-business strategic alignment on firm performance in a developing country setting: exploring moderating roles of environmental uncertainty and strategic orientation", European Journal of Information Systems21: 373. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2011.52

Ying Lu and  K. (Ram) Ramamurthy (2011) ,” Understanding the Link Between Information Technology Capability and Organizational Agility: An Empirical Examination”, Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 2011), pp. . 931-954.

Zhang, M., (2005), "Information technology capability, organizational culture, and export performance." PHD thesis. WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, College of Business and Economics.