Co-creating business value through IT-business operational alignment in inter-organisational relationships: empirical evidence from regional networks. Issue 2 (4th March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Trang, Simon; Mandrella, Markus; Marrone, Mauricio; Kolbe, Lutz M.
• Is Part Of: European journal of information systems. Volume 31:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 166
• Page End: 187
• Publication Date: 2022-03-04
• Subjects: Ojelanki Ngwenyama; Jose Benitez; IT capabilities -- inter-organisational relationships -- IT-business operational alignment -- business value co-creation -- networks -- the business value of IT; Information technology -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Europe -- Periodicals; Management information systems -- Periodicals; Management information systems -- Europe -- Periodicals; 658.403805
• DOI: 10.1080/0960085X.2020.1869914
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-085X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: IT alignment research has remained limited primarily to intra-organisational alignment, leaving much to learn about the value-creation potential of its largely neglected inter-organisational counterpart. This study addresses this gap by investigating the role of IT-business operational alignment in inter-organisational relationships (IOR). Drawing on IT-based value-co creation and IT alignment literature, we propose that IOR IT-business operational alignment is an immediate source for co-creating business value and can be established through a capability-building process. Using a sample of 241 regional network collaborations in Germany, we find that IOR IT-business operational alignment directly affects relationship performance. Moreover, we find that three IOR IT capabilities – IT infrastructure integration, information exchange capability, and IT-enabled coordination – enable the development of IOR IT-business operational alignment. This study contributes to IS research on value co-creation by integrating the concept of IT-business alignment into a nomological network with well-established IOR IT capabilities. We provide theoretical explanations and empirical evidence that IT infrastructure integration, information exchange capability, and IT-enabled coordination indirectly affect relationship performance over an operational alignment process. For practice, we highlight the importance of monitoring IT-business operational alignment in IOR and provide recommendations on how to expand existing alignment efforts.