scholarly journals The Impact of IT‑Business Alignment on SME Performance: The Mediating Effects of Strategic Collaboration, Coordination, and Responsiveness

Author(s):  
Rui Bi

The alignment between information technology (IT) and business strategy is regarded as an ongoing issue for information systems (IS) researchers and practitioners. Although prior studies suggest the enabling role of IT‑business alignment on firm performance, our understanding of the processes through which such gains are achieved in the small‑to‑medium enterprise (SME) context still remains unclear. Moreover, there is limited research exporing how SMEs employ the alignment between IT and business strategy to work closely with their business partners in order to achieve business competences. In order to address these research gaps, this study investigates whether and how IT‑business alignment enables SMEs to achieve performance goals through developing strategic business activities effectively and efficiently. Using structural equation modelling analyses of survey responses collected from 211 Australian high growth SMEs, we find positive, significant, and impactful linkages between IT‑business alignment, strategic collaboration, coordination, responsiveness, and SME performance. The results also show that strategic collaboration, coordination, and responsiveness fully mediate the relationship between IT‑business alignment and SME performance. This study contributes to the IS research by providing empirically‑supported explanations for the critical role of IT‑business alignment in SME success. More significantly, through investigating the effect of IT‑business alignment at the inter‑mediate business process level, this research provides new insights to understand the underlying influential mechanisms of IT‑business alignment in the SME context. These findings have important implications for SME business managers.

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1357-1378
Author(s):  
Aboobucker Ilmudeen ◽  
Yukun Bao

PurposeThe multifaceted effect of IT in organizations has been widely examined. However, the intervening role of IT strategy and business strategy on the effect of managing IT on firm performance remains less strong. This study examines how managing information technology (MIT) effects on firm performance by looking at the mediating role of IT strategy and business strategy.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the resource-based view of IT and contingency perspective, theoretical insights for managing IT and the mediating effect of IT strategy and business strategy on firm performance are established. The model is empirically tested by using hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling for the data collected through the survey of 194 senior IT and business managers in China.FindingsThe significant and impactful relationship found in the model for the proposed idea. The results show that both IT strategy and business strategy partially mediate the effect of managing IT on firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings highlight that managing IT does not merely influence better firm performance; instead, the coherent amalgamation of IT strategy and business strategy can enrich firm performance. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.Originality/valueIn line with the call for rigorous research to integrate the managing IT and firm strategies, this study demonstrates the mediating role of business strategy and IT strategy between the managing IT and the firm performance relationship, hence contributing to the IS research literature.


CCIT Journal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-69
Author(s):  
Henderi Henderi ◽  
Yeni Nuraeni ◽  
Junaidi Junaidi ◽  
Rahmad Hidayat

Information technology (IT) is a critical asset for effectiveness organizational governance. Therefore, the organization’s and IT’s and business’s expertise need a good IT governance. IT governance as a tool for aligning IT with business, is required to explain the new role of IT organizations, measuring the contribution of each organization’s components, helping identify the impact and benefits of IT investment which has been done, decision making, and make a better project. Conversely, the IT governance which ineffective can lead to losses of business, impairment of reputation, weaken the ability of competitiveness, lack of precision project, inefficient, quality of production is not in line with expectations, and inability to fulfill the innovation and benefits that were promised. Meanwhile, strategic alignment (in the IT business) which can either creating new opportunities and increased competitive advantage for companies well. Thus, it is necessary to create strategic alignment IT-business and ensure IT governance goes according to planned. This article intends to discusse and provide information about strategic IT-business alignment as one component of good IT governance. Once understood, the directors and CEO can identify opportunities and develop a good strategic alignment to increase IT business alignment in order to ensure companies continuity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Choo Ling Suan ◽  
Aizzat Mohd Nasurdin

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of supervisor support and to assess the moderating role of gender on employee work engagement in the context of the Malaysian hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a sample of 438 customer-contact employees in Malaysian upscale hotels and tested using the partial least squares technique. Findings – The findings indicated that supervisor support positively influences work engagement and that this positive relationship was stronger for male employees than female employees. Research limitations/implications – The results highlight that supervisor support plays a critical role in fostering greater employee work engagement. In addition, different approaches need to be utilized by supervisors in supporting their male and female subordinates. Originality/value – This study extends the existing literature by examining the role of gender in moderating the relationship between supervisor support and work engagement, especially within the context of a developing country (i.e. Malaysia), using structural equation modelling.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selahattin Kanten ◽  
Pelin Kanten ◽  
Murat Yeşiltaş

This study aims to investigate the impact of parental career behaviors on undergraduate student’s career exploration and the mediating role of career self-efficacy. In the literature it is suggested that some social and individual factors facilitate students’ career exploration. Therefore, parental career behaviors and career self-efficacy is considered as predictors of student’s career exploration attitudes within the scope of the study. In this respect, data which are collected from 405 undergraduate students having an education on tourism and hotel management field by the survey method are analyzed by using the structural equation modeling. The results of the study indicate that parental career behaviors which are addressed support; interference and lack of engagement have a significant effect on student’s career exploration behaviors such as intended-systematic exploration, environment exploration and self-exploration. In addition, it has been found that one of the dimensions of parental career behaviors addressed as a lack of engagement has a significant effect on career self-efficacy levels of students. However, research results indicate that student’s career self-efficacy has a significant effect on only the self-exploration dimension. On the other hand, career self-efficacy has a partial mediating role between lack of engagement attitudes of parents and career exploration behaviors of students.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2999
Author(s):  
Deborah Reynaud ◽  
Roland Abi Nahed ◽  
Nicolas Lemaitre ◽  
Pierre-Adrien Bolze ◽  
Wael Traboulsi ◽  
...  

The inflammatory gene NLRP7 is the major gene responsible for recurrent complete hydatidiform moles (CHM), an abnormal pregnancy that can develop into gestational choriocarcinoma (CC). However, the role of NLRP7 in the development and immune tolerance of CC has not been investigated. Three approaches were employed to define the role of NLRP7 in CC development: (i) a clinical study that analyzed human placenta and sera collected from women with normal pregnancies, CHM or CC; (ii) an in vitro study that investigated the impact of NLRP7 knockdown on tumor growth and organization; and (iii) an in vivo study that used two CC mouse models, including an orthotopic model. NLRP7 and circulating inflammatory cytokines were upregulated in tumor cells and in CHM and CC. In tumor cells, NLRP7 functions in an inflammasome-independent manner and promoted their proliferation and 3D organization. Gravid mice placentas injected with CC cells invalidated for NLRP7, exhibited higher maternal immune response, developed smaller tumors, and displayed less metastases. Our data characterized the critical role of NLRP7 in CC and provided evidence of its contribution to the development of an immunosuppressive maternal microenvironment that not only downregulates the maternal immune response but also fosters the growth and progression of CC.


Author(s):  
Eva Spiritus-Beerden ◽  
An Verelst ◽  
Ines Devlieger ◽  
Nina Langer Primdahl ◽  
Fábio Botelho Guedes ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic is a defining global health crisis of our time. While the impact of COVID-19, including its mental health impact, is increasingly being documented, there remain important gaps regarding the specific consequences of the pandemic on particular population groups, including refugees and migrants. This study aims to uncover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of refugees and migrants worldwide, disentangling the possible role of social and daily stressors, i.e., experiences of discrimination and daily living conditions. Descriptive analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the responses of N = 20,742 refugees and migrants on the self-reporting global ApartTogether survey. Survey findings indicated that the mental health of refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly impacted, particularly for certain subgroups, (i.e., insecure housing situation and residence status, older respondents, and females) who reported experiencing higher levels of increased discrimination and increases in daily life stressors. There is a need to recognize the detrimental mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on particular refugee and migrant groups and to develop interventions that target their unique needs.


Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 933
Author(s):  
Andrea Gila-Diaz ◽  
Gloria Herranz Carrillo ◽  
Pratibha Singh ◽  
David Ramiro-Cortijo

Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Unresolved inflammation plays a critical role in cardiovascular diseases development. Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators (SPMs), derived from long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), enhances the host defense, by resolving the inflammation and tissue repair. In addition, SPMs also have anti-inflammatory properties. These physiological effects depend on the availability of LCPUFAs precursors and cellular metabolic balance. Most of the studies have focused on the impact of SPMs in adult cardiovascular health and diseases. In this review, we discuss LCPUFAs metabolism, SPMs, and their potential effect on cardiovascular health and diseases primarily focusing in neonates. A better understanding of the role of these SPMs in cardiovascular health and diseases in neonates could lead to the development of novel therapeutic approaches in cardiovascular dysfunction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Pascale Benoliel ◽  
Anit Somech

Background/Context Increasingly, educational leadership research has stressed that leadership is not solely embedded in formal roles but often emerges from relationships between individuals. Senior management teams (SMTs) are an important expression of a formal management structure based on the principle of distributed leadership. Such structures may require a reconceptualization of school leadership and the role of the principal in such a way as to better meet new challenges and enable principals to manage SMTs more effectively. Accordingly, it is proposed that to improve effectiveness, principals engage in boundary activities, the principals’ internal activities directed toward the SMT aimed at dealing with internal team matters and the principals’ external activities directed toward external agents in the team's focal environment to acquire resources and protect the team. Purpose/Objective The present study attempts to advance a theoretical model of principals’ internal and external activities toward their SMTs. This study's purpose is twofold: First, the study tries to determine which of the internal and external activities principals engage in more frequently and less frequently and to what extent. Second, the study attempts to determine how these activities are related to the SMT effectiveness outcomes: in-role performance and innovation. Taking on a distributive perspective to school leadership, our goal is to extend our knowledge about the activities that might facilitate SMT effectiveness, by highlighting the principal boundary activities as fundamental. Research Design Quantitative study. Data Collection and Analysis Data were collected from two sources to minimize problems associated with same source bias: 92 SMTs and their principals from 92 public schools in Israel. Principals evaluated the SMTs’ effectiveness through validated surveys of team in-role performance and team innovation, and SMT members evaluated the internal and external activities of the principal. Findings/Results ANOVA analyses indicate significant mean differences between the principal's internal and external activities. Results from Structural Equation Model indicate that internal activities were related to SMT performance, whereas external activities were related to SMT innovation. Conclusions/Recommendations Principals who manage both the internal SMT dynamic by promoting SMT identity and building team trust, while also promoting a common mission, serve the role of coordinator between SMT members and constituencies external to the SMT, enhancing SMT effectiveness. It may be, then, that studying new models of school leadership and management, including the relationship of the principal and the SMT, may deepen our understanding of the increasingly complex role of principals today.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Purvendu Sharma

PurposeThe present research aims to introduce and understand the promising nature of destination evangelism in the context of social media-based tourism communities (SMTCs). Further, factors that influence evangelism and information-seeking behaviors on SMTCs are examined.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model is developed that features an interplay of destination distinctiveness, destination evangelism, travel commitment and information-seeking engagement. Data were collected from 215 active users of SMTCs and analyzed using structural equation models.FindingsThe research findings indicate that destination distinctiveness and information-seeking positively lead to destination evangelism. Information-seeking is found to mediate the relationship between (1) destination evangelism and travel commitment and (2) destination evangelism and distinctiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe research offers meaningful insights into exploring constituents of destination evangelism. The research also understands and highlights the critical role of information-seeking engagement about distinct destinations.Practical implicationsThis research highlights key areas to build, improve and inspire destination evangelism on SMTCs.Originality/valueThis study offers a fresh contribution to tourism literature by investigating destination evangelism and its drivers. This is explained by closely uniting vital research streams of evangelism, tourism and engagement. It further highlights the dual mediating role of information seeking, suggesting that these engagements are critical to evangelizing destinations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhail M. Ghouse ◽  
Omar Durrah ◽  
Gerard McElwee

PurposeThis paper examines the challenges associated with rural women entrepreneurs in Oman. The study is based on women living in rural and highland areas who aim to move beyond their traditional roles in the family seeking avenues for growth and development. It identifies several problems encountered by rural women entrepreneurs and the impact on their future business opportunities.Design/methodology/approachA mixed research approach involving quantitative and qualitative elements was adopted for the study. The research is based on 183 survey responses and personal interviews with 8 rural women entrepreneurs. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to analyse the quantitative responses and depict a model featuring the intensity of the problems affecting business opportunities. Seven short cases based upon the interviews with rural women entrepreneurs are also detailed.FindingsSeveral problems experienced by rural women entrepreneurs were identified hampering their business ventures, linked to personality, family, educational, socio-cultural, facilities, legal, financial and economic, organizational and geographical, out of which household, organizational and geographical linked problems were most significant. Entrepreneurial opportunities for rural women entrepreneurs are discussed.Practical implicationsThe research suggests that the policymakers should holistically consider how the rural women engaged in informal business for various means can be better supported and sustained by overcoming associated problems, can achieve business opportunities and contribute to regional socio-economic development.Originality/valueThere is a limited literature available on rural women entrepreneurship in an Arab context. The study provides an overview of the challenges and problems experienced by these women and the support areas required to overcome them for their sustainability in this region.


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