Enhancing the measurement of information technology (IT) business alignment and its influence on company performance

How do firms create business value and dynamic capabilities by leveraging big data analytics management capability?

Despite researchers having averred that big data analytics (BDA) transforms firms' ways of doing business, knowledge about operationalizing these technologies in organizations to achieve strategic objectives is lacking. Moreover, organizations' great appetite for big data and limited empirical proof of whether BDA impacts organizations' transformational capacity poses a need for further empirical investigation. Therefore, this study explores the association between big data analytics management capabilities (BDAMC) and innovation performance via dynamic capabilities (DC), by applying the PLS-SEM technique to analyzing the feedback of 149 firms. Consequently, we ground our arguments on dynamic capability and social capital theory rather than a resource-based view that does not provide suitable explanations for the deployment of resources to adapt to change. Accordingly, we advance this research stream by finding that BDAMC significantly enhances innovation performance through DC. We also extend the literature by disclosing how BDAMC strengthens DC via strategic alignment and social capital.

The role of enterprise information systems strategies enabled strategy-making on organizational innovativeness: a resource orchestration perspective

Purpose

The paper aims to establish the role of enterprise information systems strategies (ISS) enabled by business strategies for attaining organizational innovativeness (ORIN) mediated by performance (decision-making and business processes) under environmental turbulence.

Design/methodology/approach

The research framework is developed based on theoretical grounding and validated with the help of 408 responses from Brazil using SmartPLS path modeling.

Findings

The results of the research suggest that the resource orchestra of enterprise information systems strategy-enabled strategy-making can be a viable alternative to enhance innovation activities in the organizations through the mediated role of performance (decision-making and business process).

Practical implications

The research demonstrates the role of business function (information systems) strategy enabled overall business strategy-making for achieving innovations in the organization. Fortune organizations are exploiting the information systems strategy enabled business strategy for innovations in the organization; such as Amazon, Walmart, Costco, etc.

Originality/value

The proposed and validated model is a contribution to the enterprise information systems strategy theory. This model presents the role of resource orchestras in achieving innovations in organizations.

An Empirical Study on Impact of Management Capabilities for the Multinational Company's Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Based on the deep learning (DL) theory, the study takes the multinational corporation technology company A as the research target, and explores the impact of information technology (IT) management capabilities on the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. Firstly, the proposed method summarizes the connotation and characteristics of IT management capabilities, and analyzes the nature and functions of enterprise IT management capabilities. Secondly, the study expounds three different theories of sustainable competition theory. Then, it briefly elaborated the principles of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithms and the classification and definition of DL algorithms. Finally, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is selected as the training algorithm of the model. The stock price trend of technology company A is used as the basis for judging competitiveness, and the influence of IT management ability on the company’s sustainable competitiveness is quantitatively analyzed.

Achieving Strategic Alignment of Big Data Projects in Saudi Firms

Big data projects can fail due to the lack of alignment between the big data project strategy and the overall business strategy. This research considers organizational culture as an enabler of a better alignment between the two. To test the research hypothesis, a questionnaire was collected from several dozen IT decision-makers in Saudi organizations who have implemented big data projects. Statistical analysis using PLS indicates that the alignment of big data projects and overall business strategy is highly influenced by the five dimensions of organizational culture identified by Smit et al. (2008), namely strategy, leadership, adaptability, coordination, and team relationships

Big Data Analytics Capability and Business Alignment for Organizational Agility

This paper investigates the impact of big data analytics capability (BDAC) on organizational agility under the moderating effect of BDAC–business alignment and its impact on performance through organizational agility. Data from a matched-pair survey of business, data technology, and financial executives in 161 organizations were used to examine the proposed research model. This paper used partial least squares–structural equation modeling and hierarchical component analysis to examine the data. The results suggest a positive mediation role of organizational agility in the relationship between big data analytics capability and organizational performance, except that the mediation effect of operational adjustment agility on BDAC and market performance is not statistically significant. This study also finds that alignment between the business strategy and the big data analytics strategy enhances the relationship between BDAC and market responsiveness agility. It proposes a new perspective which is to realize the value of BDAC in enhancing agility and performance.

An Investigation to the Industry 4.0 Readiness of Manufacturing Enterprises

The visions of what constitutes the Industry 4.0 is an industry based on gains in efficiency and productivity enhancements supported by integrated, smart information systems. This has caused information systems strategic misalignment that present a severe barrier to National and organizational aspirations. This paper studies the readiness of manufacturing companies for the Industry 4.0, by using a case study of Chinese multinational enterprise in the aluminum production sector. The research design follows a rigorous grounded theory approach, which consisted of 41 semi-structured interviews in 7 different company branches. Based on this case study, the paper proposes an IS strategic misalignment model that identifies three levels of misalignment that need to be resolved before the vision of the smart industry can be realized. Six main categories of causes and five main categories of consequences of IS strategic misalignment are presented. This study contributes to the IS alignment literature and provides important implications for the achievement of Industry 4.0 in practice.

Investigating the Determinants of Inter-Organizational Information Sharing Within Criminal Justice: A Context-Mechanism-Outcome Approach

Focusing on inter-organizational information sharing in criminal justice, it is found that, while poor project management leads to unsuccessful inter-organizational information sharing, a recipe for success is more demanding as it requires both compatible technologies and good project management implemented either by means of a top-down approach of strategic alignment or an emergent approach of bottom-up alignment. Though unplanned, the latter approach may lead to mistakes that are more correctable than the large mistakes stemming from top-down, deliberate planning. The study is an analysis of context-mechanism-outcome configurations of inter-organizational information sharing activities within criminal justice systems and demonstrates the causal asymmetry between positive and negative cases. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed by highlighting the causal role of different types of governance structure in a crisp-set configurational fashion.

Arbeitszeitgestaltung in der digitalisierten Arbeitswelt: Ein systematisches Literatur Review zur Wirkung von Arbeitszeitverkürzung in Bezug auf die psychische Gesundheit

Dieser Beitrag der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) stellt ein systematisches Review zum Zusammenhang der Arbeitszeitverkürzung (bei vollem Gehalt) und psychischen Gesundheit auf der Grundlage vorhandener Studien vor, um Chancen und Risiken besser einschätzen und beurteilen zu können. Die Diskussion über die Verkürzung von Arbeitszeiten wird nicht zuletzt durch die vielfältigen Möglichkeiten der Digitalisierung der Arbeit verstärkt. Die Literatursuche ergab insgesamt 114 Artikel, wovon drei qualitative, neun quantitative Studien und eine Mixed Method Studie in die Analyse aufgenommen wurden. Aus den Ergebnissen wurde deutlich, dass eine verkürzte Arbeitszeit bei gleichbleibendem Lohn zu einer Verringerung von arbeitsbedingten Belastungen bei Beschäftigten beitragen. Die Umsetzung der Verkürzung erfolgte auf drei unterschiedliche Weisen: I. ohne Veränderung der Arbeitsprozesse, II. ohne Veränderung der Arbeitsprozesse, jedoch mit zusätzlichen Beschäftigten oder III. mit einer vorhergehenden Veränderung der Arbeitsprozesse, ohne zusätzliche Angestellte. Zwar gibt es bis dato noch keine allgemeingültige Empfehlung für die Umsetzung in die Praxis, allerdings wird für eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung empfohlen, die Reduktion der Arbeitszeit vorab zu planen und Optimierungsmöglichkeiten für die Ausführung von Tätigkeiten und Arbeitsprozessen zu identifizieren (III.).

A text mining-based review of the literature on dynamic capabilities perspective in information systems research

Purpose

While the dynamic capabilities perspective is the most cited strategic theory in the information systems field of research, little effort has been made to review and integrate the associate literature of this perspective in the field. Accordingly, this paper aims to systematically analyze the information systems literature on dynamic capabilities and provide a holistic understanding of the topical composition and trend of dynamic capabilities studies in information systems research.

Design/methodology/approach

Using latent Dirichlet allocation as the text analysis algorithm, the author conducted a topic modeling of the dynamic capabilities corpus in the information systems field of research to quantitatively review, summarize and classify the prior literature. The review covered 191 articles published on dynamic capabilities between 1998 and 2018 in pioneering information systems journals and conference proceedings.

Findings

In accordance with the topic modeling results, the topical composition of the dynamic capabilities corpus in information systems research dominantly includes seven themes titled T1. Information systems value, T2. Information systems change, T3. Digitalization, T4. Information systems agility, T5. Big data, T6. Information systems innovation and T7. Information systems alignment. Also, the overall and topical trend of dynamic capabilities studies in the information systems field of research were revealed. The trends indicated that the investigated domain and its prominent sub-domains have generally had positive productivity over the past years.

Originality/value

The current study contributes to the domain by developing knowledge and improving literature on dynamic capabilities in information systems research, discovering the main topics of interest for information systems researchers to deploying the dynamic capabilities perspective in their studies, and prioritizing the future information systems research on dynamic capabilities based on the identified trends of topics.

Environmental Turbulence as a Moderator on the Impact of Transformational Leadership and IT Business Strategy Alignment on EIS Adaptation

This article expands current knowledge by assessing how transformational leadership influences IT business strategy alignment. Unexplored in earlier studies, the article discloses the role that environmental turbulence plays in this association. Developed through an extensive literature survey, the conceptual model is empirically tested, with survey data collected from managerial employees. The results show that, first, the transformation leadership style can lead to a favorable IT business strategy alignment. Second, the IT business strategy alignment has a significant positive effect on EIS adaptation. Third, environment turbulence positively moderates the relations among IT business strategy alignment and EIS adaptation. This study not only extends the current knowledge, but also provides useful managerial implications for the banking sector organizations of Pakistan.

A Model for Evaluating Big Data Analytics Tools for Organisation Purposes

Big data analytics tools have many functions that are common or similar to one another. This is a problem for many organisations that are either interested or have deployed some of the tools. The problem arises because there is no mechanism on how to determine appropriateness of the tools within context in an environment. Some of the implications of the problem are that it is difficult to assess appropriateness of the tools in an environment, which sometimes result to duplication; and the value of the tools. The aim of this project was to propose a solution through a model that can be used to evaluate big data analytics tools for organisations’ benefits. The qualitative method, case study approach and semi-structured interview technique were applied in the study. From the analysis, the role of criteria, business and IT alignment, governance, and skill-sets were revealed as critical factors. Based on the factors, a model was developed, which can be used as a building block through which evaluation of big data analytics tools in an organisation is carried out.

Organizational culture and information systems strategic alignment

Purpose

Information systems (IS) strategic alignment is a significant chief information officers (CIO) and top management issue because of its impact on a firm’s performance and profitability. Previous studies have primarily examined informal dimension’s influence on IS strategic alignment. Nevertheless, a few research works have emphasised cultural dimension’s effect. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate and bring out organisational culture’s influence on IS strategic alignment. Notably, it highlights the most significant culture types, according to the Competing Value Framework (Cameron et al., 2006).

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical setting comprises a quantitative approach using a survey based on a sample of 160 business managers (BMs) of 53 large companies located in Tunisia with international activities and being in the post-implementation operational use phase of their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The partial least square (PLS) method has been used for data analysis.

Findings

The results provide an empirical evidence supporting a positive and significant organisational culture’s influence on the IS strategic alignment. The findings also show that “Clan Culture” (Internal/Flexibility-oriented culture) positively influences IS alignment along with the strategic priorities. These findings provide guidance and help understand how, through clan culture, the company can contribute significantly to the success of its ERP systems strategic alignment during the most critical phase, namely, post-implementation.

Originality/value

Despite abundant work related to IS alignment topic, little research, to the authors’ knowledge, has been undertaken in considering organisational culture’s influence. Thus, this research aims to fill this gap and to raise new questions about IS alignment. First, this study puts together organisational culture (through the Competing values Framework) and strategic alignment (through the IS use dimension) in a single research model to analyse four culture types’ direct effect on IS alignment. Second, this study is innovative in its use of the ERP post-implementation as an empirical framework. The post-implementation phase is often played down in research work in favour of the upstream pre-implementation phases. Furthermore, the findings bring together theoretical and practical insights on both IS-business strategic alignment and ERP post-implementation. Thus, future research could emphasise the role of clan culture in the efficiency of ERP systems strategic alignment during the usage phase. Building on these findings, BM, CIO and top management are advised to promote this culture type based on communication, information sharing and the spirit of internal partnership – so that their ERP systems are used appropriately and aligned with the company’s strategic priorities.

Impact of IT practices and business value of IT measurement

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure the business value of IT (BVIT) and illustrate the relationship between IT practices and BVIT.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a case study approach to collect the subject firm data over a period of one year. The data are about various IT systems used in the firm and their associated capital and operational cost components. The derived data are then compared with industry benchmarks.

Findings

The IT practices employed by the firm enable it to achieve a BVIT which is higher than the industry norm, from both strategic and operational perspectives.

Research limitations/implications

In this study, a year’s worth of data from a single firm is considered. The temporal frame of the research data limits the generalization of the results. To improve the generalizability, data from many years and across many firms may be used.

Practical implications

The paper provides insights to managers to identify the measures of BVIT. Further, managers can make necessary interventions based on IT practices to derive IT capabilities which, in turn, impact the firm’s performance.

Originality/value

The contribution of the work is manifold: illustration of the relationship between IT practices and BVIT; illustration of a methodology to evaluate firm-level BVIT; and an approach to collect IT expenses – both capital and operational level.

How does business-IT strategic alignment dimension impact on organizational performance measures

Purpose

Despite the conceptual, empirical and theoretical advances in alignment–performance relationship, there is a limited research on the alignment dimensions and organizational performance measures. Though strategic alignment is believed to improve organizational performance, the purpose of this paper is to develop conjectures for understanding how different alignment dimensions influence organizational performance measures.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were acquired from 161 senior IT and business managers paired responses in China and were analyzed by using a structural equation modeling technique.

Findings

The hypothesized relationships are largely supported. Thus, quality-oriented strategic alignment dimension has a significant relationship with all performance measures. Contrary to expectations, both product and marketing-oriented strategic alignment dimensions do not show a significant impact on financial return. The marketing-oriented strategic alignment dimension also has an insignificant relationship with operational excellence.

Practical implications

This study suggests that the business–IT alignment can be dimensioned to better combine business strategy and IT strategy. Hence, managers can focus specific alignment dimension instead of entire strategies of a firm for a better decision making.

Originality/value

Findings suggest guidance for formulating combined business and IT strategic alignment into dimensions and proposing insightful and practical implications.

Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Validation of the Digital Data Stream Readiness Index

This article describes how in their search for value creation, companies are investing considerable resources in so-called “Big Data” initiatives. A peculiar aspect of these initiatives is the increasing availability of real-time streams of data. Successfully leveraging these streams to extract value is emerging as a critical competence for the modern firm. Despite the significant attention received, scholarly research on Digital Data Stream (DDS) remains insufficient. More importantly, there are no specialized definitions and measurement instruments that can move the field forward by initiating a cumulative research tradition. This article can provide clarification on key definitions, differentiating DDS from Big Data. Drawing on the organizational readiness concept, the DDS readiness index develops as a measure of organizational readiness to exploit real-time digital data. This article will conceptualize, define, operationalize and validate the index. By identifying the four dimensions of mindset, skillset, dataset and toolset as the elements of the DDS readiness index and discussing its managerial and research implications

The effect of human IT capability on organizational agility: an empirical analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this study underpins investigation of the impact of human IT capabilities (comprising business functions, interpersonal management and technology management expertise) on organizational agility (in terms of sensing and responding agilities). The moderating influence of IT infrastructure spending on this human IT–agility linkage is also thoroughly investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data collected from 300 IT personnel working in various publicly owned banking groups functioning across India are used for this study and structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to assess the human IT–agility link.

Findings

The two-fold research findings highlight the following: first, human IT capabilities enable both the sensing and responding components of agility and second, firms need to focus on translating huge and impudent IT investments into building superior capabilities to effectively shape agility.

Originality/value

This study greatly contributes to the information system (IS) literature by examining human IT capability and agility in terms of second-order constructs and provides a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of this unique relationship. The study precisely investigates the manner in which distinct human IT capability dimensions interact with both types of agilities along with the moderating effect of IT spending on this linkage.