Enhanced digital transformation supporting capabilities through enterprise architecture management: A fsQCA perspective

The rapid development of novel, innovative digital technologies significantly impact organizations and their business ecosystem. Organizations must stay abreast of the latest developments and respond to them continuously to remain competitive. Many organizations make significant investments in enterprise architecture management (EAM) to manage the transformation of their complex information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) landscape and to guide their digital transformation. However, empirical research on EAM benefit realization is limited. This research conceptualized EAM as a particular type of dynamic managerial capability. Survey data (N = 110) was used in a set-theoretic approach (fsQCA) to identify EAM configurations that lead to a presence of technical IT capabilities and strategic IT alignment. The results indicate the importance of system changes induced by the EAM function itself to improve technical IT capabilities. Furthermore, setting up clear standards and rules, and developing and planning the migration to target architectures is particularly important to align business and IT in larger organizations. This research contributes to the academic knowledge base on EAM benefit realization and supports the needed reconceptualization and evolution of EA and EAM to better support organizations' digital transformations. Furthermore, the outcomes can help decision-makers justify and guide their EA investments while implementing a digital strategy.