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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

For the last two decades, information technology (IT) in general, and information systems (IS) in particular have rapidly advanced in capability and have changed the way organizations do business. For many organizations, IT spending constitutes one of the biggest investments each year and as a re...

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Main Author: MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2011
Online Access:http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/2839/1/Thesis.pdf
http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/2839/
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spelling my-utp-utpedia.28392017-01-25T09:42:15Z http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/2839/ FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA For the last two decades, information technology (IT) in general, and information systems (IS) in particular have rapidly advanced in capability and have changed the way organizations do business. For many organizations, IT spending constitutes one of the biggest investments each year and as a result, the strategic alignment between information technology (IT) and business has been a priority for information system practitioners and business executives. However, the conditions under which IT can be used for competitive advantage continues to be a major challenge. The objectives of this thesis were to identify the behavioral, technical and organizational underlying strategic alignment factors, and to investigate strategic alignment influence of the use of IT for competitive advantage. The findings of this study further extend the strategic alignment research stream. This was achieved by developing, empirically testing, and validating the second-order strategic alignment factor model to investigate the influence of the strategic alignment between IT and business on the use of IT for competitive advantage. Using the survey method, a mail questionnaire has provided 202 respondents of IT and business executives from the Malaysian service sector (Tour and Travel agents). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to validate the hypothesized second-order strategic alignment factor model. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the coordination of IT planning with business planning; communication between IT and managers; human resource skills maturity; IT infrastructure flexibility; and organizational change adaptability as the underlying strategic alignment factors. The analysis also supported that strategic alignment between IT and business to positively influence the use of IT for competitive advantage. Furthermore, the hypothesized second-order strategic alignment factor model demonstrated an adequate model fit with the sample data. Hence, the hypothesis that the proposed second-order factor model fits the data was supported. The study has made theoretical and practical contributions. First, the theoretical contribution, the proposed second-order strategic alignment model of this study has vii extended the cumulative research of aligning IT strategy with business strategy by examining how strategic alignment can influence the use of IT for competitive advantage. Another theoretical contribution is that, strategic alignment is specified as a second-order construct, derived from the first-order constructs; which are a coordination of IT and business planning factor; communication between IT and business managers factor; human resource skills maturity factor; IT infrastructure flexibility factor; and organizational change adaptability factor. The revised secondorder strategic alignment factor model not only has acceptable model fit, but also performs better than the alternative model. This study has provided a validated and tested research model that will be an important tool for practitioners and managers to be able to know and assess the underlying strategic alignment factors, and the influence of strategic alignment of the use of IT for competitive advantage. 2011-05 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/2839/1/Thesis.pdf MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA (2011) FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY. PhD thesis, UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS.
institution Universiti Teknologi Petronas
building UTP Resource Centre
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Teknologi Petronas
content_source UTP Electronic and Digitized Intellectual Asset
url_provider http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/
language English
description For the last two decades, information technology (IT) in general, and information systems (IS) in particular have rapidly advanced in capability and have changed the way organizations do business. For many organizations, IT spending constitutes one of the biggest investments each year and as a result, the strategic alignment between information technology (IT) and business has been a priority for information system practitioners and business executives. However, the conditions under which IT can be used for competitive advantage continues to be a major challenge. The objectives of this thesis were to identify the behavioral, technical and organizational underlying strategic alignment factors, and to investigate strategic alignment influence of the use of IT for competitive advantage. The findings of this study further extend the strategic alignment research stream. This was achieved by developing, empirically testing, and validating the second-order strategic alignment factor model to investigate the influence of the strategic alignment between IT and business on the use of IT for competitive advantage. Using the survey method, a mail questionnaire has provided 202 respondents of IT and business executives from the Malaysian service sector (Tour and Travel agents). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to validate the hypothesized second-order strategic alignment factor model. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the coordination of IT planning with business planning; communication between IT and managers; human resource skills maturity; IT infrastructure flexibility; and organizational change adaptability as the underlying strategic alignment factors. The analysis also supported that strategic alignment between IT and business to positively influence the use of IT for competitive advantage. Furthermore, the hypothesized second-order strategic alignment factor model demonstrated an adequate model fit with the sample data. Hence, the hypothesis that the proposed second-order factor model fits the data was supported. The study has made theoretical and practical contributions. First, the theoretical contribution, the proposed second-order strategic alignment model of this study has vii extended the cumulative research of aligning IT strategy with business strategy by examining how strategic alignment can influence the use of IT for competitive advantage. Another theoretical contribution is that, strategic alignment is specified as a second-order construct, derived from the first-order constructs; which are a coordination of IT and business planning factor; communication between IT and business managers factor; human resource skills maturity factor; IT infrastructure flexibility factor; and organizational change adaptability factor. The revised secondorder strategic alignment factor model not only has acceptable model fit, but also performs better than the alternative model. This study has provided a validated and tested research model that will be an important tool for practitioners and managers to be able to know and assess the underlying strategic alignment factors, and the influence of strategic alignment of the use of IT for competitive advantage.
format Thesis
author MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA
spellingShingle MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
author_facet MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA
author_sort MUSSA, MOHAMMED ABDI MUSSA
title FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
title_short FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
title_full FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
title_fullStr FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
title_full_unstemmed FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH BUSINESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
title_sort factors influencing the strategic alignment of information technology with business in the tourism industry
publishDate 2011
url http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/2839/1/Thesis.pdf
http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/2839/
_version_ 1739830965741551616
score 13.211869

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