Objective and main results

This study examines the relationship between business-IS alignment and organizational agility. The concept of OISA ambidexterity is applied to discuss the need for combining two alignment types (structural and social) at the strategy implementation stage to achieve organizational agility. Structural alignment involves the alignment of formal business and IT structures, and social alignment focuses on the alignment of informal business and IT structures (i.e., human relationships).

Main findings:

• OISA ambidexterity (i.e. the capability to simultaneously pursue structural and social alignment) positively influences organizational agility.
• IT competence of business employees and business competence of IT professionals positively influence OISA ambidexterity, both individually and complementary (a synergetic interactive effect between these competence variables was found).

Summary of practical implications

Managers should pursue structural and social alignment simultaneously. This is particularly important in digitally enabled firms and means that:

• IT infrastructures and processes should be aligned with organizational structure and business processes.
• Business people should focus more on the value of close collaboration between business and IT departments, as this enables flexible adjustment of information systems to business changes.
• Tangible investments in IT infrastructure should be balanced with intangible resource investments. The latter type is important for development of cross-departmental collaboration and social relationships between business and IT departments.
• Investments in employee competence building should be targeted at cross-domain competence.

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