Factors That Influence the Social Dimension of Alignment Between Business and Information Technology Objectives1
Authors: Reich, Blaize Horner; Benbasat, Izak
Journal: MIS Quarterly (2000)
DOI: 10.2307/3250980
<jats:p>The establishment of strong alignment between information technology (IT) and organizational objectives has consistently been reported as one of the key concerns of information systems managers. This paper presents findings from a study which investigated the influence of several factors on the social dimension of alignment within 10 business units in the Canadian life insurance industry. The social dimension of alignment refers to the state in which business and IT executives understand and are committed to the business and IT mission, objectives, and plans.</jats:p> <jats:p>The research model included four factors that would potentially influence alignment: (1) shared domain knowledge between business and IT executives, (2) IT implementation success, (3) communication between business and IT executives, and (4) connections between business and IT planning processes. The outcome, alignment, was operationalized in two ways: the degree of mutual understanding of current objectives (short-term alignment) and the congruence of IT vision (long-term alignment) between business and IT executives.</jats:p> <jats:p>A total of 57 semi-structured interviews were held with 45 informa…