Enabling ITbusiness strategic alignment : an empirical study on the telecommunications sector in Jordan

Abstract EN

This study investigates the relationship between the six main enablers of IT / Business strategic alignment on the one hand (senior executive support for IT, IT involvement in strategy development, IT understanding of the business, Business / IT partnership, well-prioritized IT projects, IT demonstrated leadership) and IT / Business strategic alignment enablement on the other hand.

A suggested model was developed based on Luftman and his colleagues six IT / Business strategic alignment enablers model.

The main hypothesis and other six sub hypotheses were derived to investigate the supposed relationship.

An organization-wide assessment was adopted in this study to provide a macro objective view of the current IT / Business strategic alignment enablers within the researched companies.

Therefore ; a structured quantitative survey in the form of a questionnaire was developed and delivered to companies' members from all managerial levels within mobile and fixed telecommunications organizations in Jordan.

Based on the perceptions of respondents, the six IT / Business enablers were explored throughout the study.

The results of the study indicated that there is a significant relationship at (5) percent level between each of the independent variables (senior executive support for IT, IT involvement in strategy development, IT understanding of the business, Business / IT partnership, well-prioritized IT projects, IT demonstrated leadership) and the dependent variable (IT / Business strategic alignment enablement).

Based on the results of this study, a set of recommendations were proposed.

Some of them are : • Senior management should be concerned with supplementing IT department with highly qualified human resources and financial resources.

• Forming a team of senior decision makers from the corporate IT and business unit is recommended to be the dominant style in strategy development.

Cross-functional coordination and joint task force are also recommended to enhance partnership efforts.

• To enhance their leadership skills, IT leaders should be encouraged to attend training sessions regarding leadership skills.