Studies for over 30 years have consistently indicated that enterprise-level Business-Information Technology (IT) alignment is a pervasive problem. While significant progress has been made to understand alignment, research on IT alignment is still plagued by several problems. First, most alignment models approach alignment as a static relationship in contrast to analyzing the scope and variance of activities through which the alignment is (or can be) attained. Second, most alignment models are not founded on strong theoretical foundations. Third, because of their static view, these models do not guide how organizations can improve alignment. This study addresses these weaknesses using a capability-based lens. It formulates and operationalizes a formative construct rooted in the theory of dynamic capabilities and defines the scope and nature of activities that contribute to alignment. The construct identifies six dimensions promoting alignment: (1) IT-Business Communications; (2) Use of Value Analytics; (3) Approaches to Collaborative Governance; (4) Nature of the affiliation/partnership; (5) Scope of IT initiatives; and (6) Development of IT Skills. The construct measures are validated in terms of their dimensionality, item pool sampling, and the nomological and predictive validity. The research uses Partial Least Squares (PLS) to statistically validate the construct using a dataset covering over 3000 global participants including nearly 400 Fortune 1000 companies. All construct dimensions contribute significantly to the level of alignment and the construct shows strong nomological and predictive validity by demonstrating a statistically significant impact on firm performance. Scholars can leverage this research to explore additional activity-based constructs of IT-business alignment.

中文翻译：

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加强衡量信息技术 (IT) 业务一致性及其对公司绩效的影响

30 多年来的研究一致表明，企业级业务信息技术 (IT) 一致性是一个普遍存在的问题。虽然在理解一致性方面取得了重大进展，但 IT 一致性研究仍然受到若干问题的困扰。首先，大多数对齐模型将对齐视为一种静态关系，而不是分析活动的范围和差异，通过这些活动可以（或可以）实现对齐。其次，大多数对齐模型都不是建立在强大的理论基础上的。第三，由于它们的静态观点，这些模型不能指导组织如何改进一致性。本研究使用基于能力的镜头解决了这些弱点。它制定并实施了一个植根于动态能力理论的形成性结构，并定义了有助于协调一致的活动的范围和性质。该结构确定了促进一致性的六个维度：(1) IT-业务通信；(2) 价值分析的使用；(3) 协同治理的方法；(4) 隶属关系/合伙关系的性质；(5) IT 举措的范围；(6) 发展资讯科技技能。构建量度在维度、项目池抽样以及规则和预测有效性方面得到验证。该研究使用偏最小二乘法 (PLS) 使用涵盖 3000 多个全球参与者（包括近 400 家财富 1000 强公司）的数据集对该结构进行统计验证。所有构造维度都对对齐水平有显着贡献，并且该构造通过证明对公司绩效的统计显着影响显示出强大的规则和预测有效性。学者们可以利用这项研究来探索其他基于活动的 IT 业务一致性结构。