Information Technology Alignment in Public Organisations: Towards Successful Digital Transformation

The widespread acceptance of digital transformation has brought the topic to the top of researchers’ and practitioners’ agendas. However, despite the anticipated benefits and opportunities, evidence suggests that many organisations still struggle to realise the results of successful digital transform...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Jonathan, Gideon Mekonnen
Format: Dissertation
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The widespread acceptance of digital transformation has brought the topic to the top of researchers’ and practitioners’ agendas. However, despite the anticipated benefits and opportunities, evidence suggests that many organisations still struggle to realise the results of successful digital transformation. The recent data from academic literature, consultancy firms and media reports indicate that, on average, between 70 and 80 per cent of digital transformation projects fail. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the figure for organisations in the public sector stands at 78 per cent. Among others, one of the reasons cited for this challenge is a phenomenon referred to as ‘ IT alignment ’—the appropriate and timely application of information technology (IT) in congruence with the overall organisational goals, internal organisational settings, and external environments. The recognition of the critical role IT alignment plays in digital transformation has triggered calls for studies investigating the relationship between the two constructs, in various organisational contexts. However, a closer look at the extant literature reveals that public organisations were not the focus of studies exploring IT alignment’s role in successful digital transformation. This paucity of knowledge needs to be addressed since the differences between private and public organisations influence the adoption of emerging technologies. Thus, scholars argue that our comprehension of the relationship between the two constructs, based on studies conducted in private organisations, might not apply to public organisations. To address this gap and respond to the calls for further research, this study investigated the role of IT alignment in the digital transformation of public organisations. In addition to two systematic literature reviews, the thesis presents the results of two case studies with two follow-up confirmatory surveys. The research question answered in this thesis is: “How can public organisations pursue IT alignment to enable successful digital transformation?” The main results of the study presented are the following. First, three roles of IT alignment for digital transformation in a public organisation are identified, i.e., enabling organisational agility , improving the value derived from IT investments , and enabling integration of digital technologies . Second, the organisational and managerial factors that influence IT alignment are revealed: i.e., organisational agility ,