The Influence of Entrepreneurial Action on Strategic Alignment in New Ventures

Introduction The alignment of IT strategy with business strategy has been among the top concerns of business leaders for several decades (Kappelman et al. 2014; Niederman et al. 1991). This interest from practitioners has stimulated researchers to produce a voluminous body of literature where definitions and dimensions of alignment have been proposed, measures and models have been developed, and antecedents and outcomes have been identified (Chan et al. 2007). One specific area of interest within strategic alignment research has been the study of how alignment develops and changes in an organization over time. Researchers have described stages of growth in how firms strategically use IT (Burn 1993), phases in the pursuit of alignment (Street 2006), and a model of punctuated equilibrium where extended periods of stability with evolutionary change are interrupted by short periods of rapid transformation with revolutionary change (Sabherwal et al. 2001b). In spite of this foregoing work, few if any have examined the genesis of strategic alignment and its related processes in new ventures. Some researchers have investigated the strategic role of IT in SMEs, an area of research closely related to new ventures (Bergeron et al. 2001; Bergeron et al. 2004; Cragg et al. 2002; Hussin et al. 2002; Levy et al. 2011; Raymond et al. 2009), others have discussed IT as a tool for innovation (Beckman et al. 2012a; Chen et al. 2010; Fichman et al. 2014), and still others have explored the role of the entrepreneur-leader in technology entrepreneurship (Beckman et al. 2012b). Nevertheless, strategic alignment in new ventures, and specifically the development of alignment from its very outset remains under investigated. . The purpose of this paper is to explore the manner in which strategic alignment begins and evolves in a new venture. New ventures are an area of active research interest within the broader community of business scholars. Researchers studying new ventures have observed that there are discernible differences in the way that entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses and have therefore constructed several