PurposeThis study intends to reveal how to manage the dynamic process of information technology business (IT-business) strategic alignment; managing this alignment is an unknown yet critical issue that must be addressed by any firm trying to unleash the business value of their IT investments.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents our case study of a healthcare organization after healthcare information systems (HIS) implementation and investigates the strategic alignment between the implemented HIS and the organizational strategy from a dynamic perspective.FindingsTwo different patterns of alignment (i.e. an IT-strategy–driven pattern and a business-strategy–driven pattern) are identified, and a process model of the IT-business strategic alignment is developed. Moreover, this study focuses on the social dimension of strategic alignment and examines the role of this dimension, which is critical and fundamental with respect to other dimensions, in achieving strategic alignment.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes important theoretical contributions to the understanding of strategic alignment by taking a dynamic view of alignment, identifying different patterns of alignment, emphasizing the role of social alignment and developing a comprehensive process model.Practical implicationsFrom a managerial perspective, managers should periodically scrutinize the IT-business alignment patterns of their organizations and develop dynamic capabilities for strategic alignment.Originality/valueWhile most of the literature on the dynamics of strategic alignment have focused on confirming the dynamics of strategic alignment and identifying the factors that create dynamics in alignment, this study examines IT-business alignment as a continuous process over time, thus providing a novel perspective. Moreover, while the role of social alignment and its impact on downstream performance remain unclear in the current literature, this study incorporates the social dimension of alignment to investigate the role of this dimension in achieving IT-business strategic alignment.
Identifying the features of social ties that facilitate the generation of creative ideas deepens the understanding of relational factors in dyadic communication that trigger creative thinking. Tie strength, which is the key factor that shape creativity, has ambiguous effects on shaping creativity. Specifically, strong ties have both positive and negative effects on creativity when it is examined from a structural perspective and social perspective. It is also unclear that through what kind of mechanisms behind that trigger strong ties have an opposite association with creativity. Therefore this study distinguishes different tie types of tie strength and investigates how they have opposite effects on creativity. Furthermore, this study also examines whether the usage of multiple media in dyadic communication would influence the interaction. Our finding shows that dyads that are strongly connected by multiple ties (i.e., professional ties, personal ties) are less likely to share diverse expertise but more likely to obtain thoughtful responses from each other. Compared to dyads using a single communication media, dyads that use multiple communication media are less likely to share diverse expertise due to communication cost and redundant information exchanged. However the dyads are more likely to respond to each other with thoughtful answers when they use multiple communication media. These findings provide both theoretical contribution to extant literature and practical implications.
In organizations, the amount of attention that usergenerated knowledge receives in knowledge management systems (KMSs) may not imply its potential for benefiting organizational activities in terms of accelerating innovation and product development. To optimize the utilization of knowledge in organizations, it is crucial to identify factors that influence knowledge popularity. From a network perspective, this study proposes a model to evaluate knowledge popularity by investigating 2 attributes of contextual information (i.e., authors and tags) that are embedded in a heterogeneous knowledge network, and how they interact to impact knowledge popularity. Objective data obtained through the interaction history of a KMS in a global telecommunication company was applied to test the hypotheses. This paper contributes to the extant literature on knowledge popularity by identifying contextual attributions of knowledge, and empirically tests the impact of their interactions on knowledge popularity.
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