Achieving Social IT Alignment through the Orchestration of IT Assets: An Interpretive Case Study

ABSTRACT

Adopting a qualitative approach, this exploratory case study analyzes the path to social IT alignment (SITA) of a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) that operates in the industrial services sector and is engaged in an organizational IT-enabled transformation. Based on three mechanisms, namely allocating, structuring, and coordinating IT resources, the findings of this study illuminate how a small, yet collaborative organization may achieve SITA through IT asset orchestration mechanisms that are better understood and managed.

KEYWORDS:

• Social IT alignment
• IT asset orchestration mechanism
• IT-enabled transformation
• IT alignment process
• SME

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claudia Pelletier

Claudia Pelletier, DBA, is Assistant Professor of information systems and a researcher at the Institute for Research on SMEs at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Her work has been published in journals such as Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development and Revue Internationale PME, as well as in international conference proceedings such as HICSS and AMCIS. Professor Pelletier’s current research interests focus on the IT strategic alignment process and IT-enabled organizational transformation, and on the challenges of digital transformation in the business ecosystem, including issues surrounding Industry 4.0 in the particular context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Anne-Marie Croteau

Anne-Marie Croteau, PhD, CDir, is Dean of the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She is Professor of strategic management of information technology. Her work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and Computers in Human Behavior, as well as in international proceedings such as ICIS and HICSS. Professor Croteau’s current research studies the reality of gig-workers through the lens of the organizational support theory.

Louis Raymond

Louis Raymond, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of information systems and a researcher at the Institute for Research on SMEs at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. His work has been published in journals such as the MIS Quarterly, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Information Systems Journal, Journal of Management Information Systems, Project Management Journal, European Journal of Information Systems and International Journal of Medical Informatics, as well as in international proceedings such as ICIS and HICSS. Professor Raymond’s current research involves the strategic management of information technology and its performance impacts in the small business context and in the healthcare sector.

Dragos Vieru

Dragos Vieru, PhD, is Full Professor at TELUQ University in Montreal and researcher at the Research Group in Information Systems of HEC Montreal. His research interests are in the areas of IT-enabled organizational change, global IT sourcing, and ethics in IT. His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Knowledge Management, the International Journal of Information Management and the Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases, as well as in international conference proceedings such as ICIS and HICSS. Professor Vieru’s current research involves organizational ambidexterity and its impact on IT innovation in the IT services industry.