IT—Business Alignment—Theoretical Background and Hypotheses Formulation

The chapter describes the theoretical background characterizing the role of IT—business alignment in generating value for organization. The necessity of the analysis of this issue in different business contexts is underlined in the light of different availability of IT solutions and different scope of implemented management methods existing in developing and developed economies—drastically influencing the IT—business alignment and its role for the organization. Moreover, IT reliability is proposed as the indicator of IT—business alignment and the theoretical background supporting it to be an indicator of IT—business alignment maturity is outlined. Then, the framework for verification of the mechanism of IT—business alignment role in generating value for organization is described (based on its influence on management methods quality, employees’ commitment and organizational performance). The chapter contains the formulation of general and detailed research hypotheses developed in order to fulfill the aims of entire book. It ends with an overview of proposed research methodology and its comparison with existing approaches to evaluation of IT—business alignment in organizations.