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 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.