| Creators: |
Weeger, Andy and Haase, Ulrich |
| Title: |
Taking up three Challenges to Business-IT Alignment Research by the Use of Activity Theory |
| Item Type: |
Article or issue of a publication series |
| Projects: |
HealthIT, IDI |
| Journal or Series Title: |
International Journal of IT/Business Alignment and Governance |
| Date: |
2016 |
| Divisions: |
Informationsmanagement |
| Abstract: |
This paper offers a novel view on the business-IT alignment that takes on the three major challenges of
prior research: theory, process and applicability. The theoretical deliberations and empirical data of a
single in-depth case study shows that taking an activity theoretical lens offers a way to conceptualize
the mechanisms, triggers and complexities of business-IT alignment that enhance our understanding
of the alignment process and reveal important implications for practice. Building on activity theory
and the notion of interrelated activity systems, the authors propose to view business and IT as two
distinct, yet related activity systems that co-evolve over time. Moreover, they show that business-IT
alignment can be understood as a process of continuous adjustments between the two collective,
pragmatic, contested and situated activity systems of business and IT. Examining data spanning six
years of transformation processes, the authors systematically increase their understanding of the
processes and underlying mechanisms of aligning business and IT. These insights are facilitated
via the conceptualization of the alignment as a process aimed to reduce contradictions and tensions
within and between the linked activity systems of business and IT. The theoretical deliberations and
empirical evidence show that AT provides a strong theoretical foundation and a robust framework
that is able to facilitate rigorous process-oriented studies, whose findings can guide endeavors of
detecting and approaching misalignments in practice. |
| Forthcoming: |
No |
| Citation: |
Weeger, Andy and Haase, Ulrich
(2016)
Taking up three Challenges to Business-IT Alignment Research by the Use of Activity Theory.
International Journal of IT/Business Alignment and Governance, 7 (2).
ISSN 1947-9611
|
