Exercising alignment in a turbulent environment

: A quantitative study on the impact of co-evolutionary IS alignment on dynamic capabilities in public organizations

Abstract

Many studies have examined the impact of information technology (IT) on realizing organizational performance, and on the benefits of business IT-alignment in particular. However, despite the body of knowledge on business-IT alignment, for most companies alignment is still seen as an unreachable goal to achieve: it is not clear how to employ alignment to cope with the fast-changing external environment that is increasingly dependent on technology. To extend on the shortcomings of business-IT alignment, this study examines alignment within the domain of complexity science by employing the concept co-evolutionary IS-alignment (COISA) and proposes a view of IS alignment that is dynamic, co-evolutionary and continuously intertwined in the business environment. A thorough literature review was conducted to develop a conceptual model that disclosed three hypotheses that were tested by means of a quantitative study. A survey was distributed amongst IT professionals that are active in the public sector and the outcomes of this study provide recommendations for further research on COISA.

Date of Award	18 Jun 2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Pien Walraven (Examiner) & Rogier van de Wetering (Co-assessor)