Title :
The Social Network Structure of Alignment - A Literature Review
Author :
Walentowitz, Katja ; Beimborn, Daniel ; Schroiff, Anna ; Weitzel, Tim
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
Abstract :
The social network structure at the interface between a firm´s business and IT units is of vital importance to business/IT alignment and hence an important IT governance object. Yet, there is a substantial gap in understanding the nature of these social structures and how they affect IT business value. Based on a literature review that comprises articles published in eight top IS journals since 2000, this paper identifies social network structure characteristics which represent antecedents of alignment. These are subsequently translated into precise concepts of social network analysis (SNA). The identification and formalization of such social network structures allow IT governance to implement social engineering mechanisms in order to influence the social network structure and thus business/IT alignment and IT value. Examples for such translated arguments are a high degree centrality of CIOs vis-a-vis other executives and strong ties in terms of cross-domain knowledge between the CIO and other executives.
Keywords :
commerce; social networking (online); IT business value; cross domain knowledge; high degree centrality; social engineering mechanism; social network analysis; social network structure; Density measurement; Joining processes; Knowledge engineering; Niobium; Organizations; Social network services;
Conference_Titel :
System Sciences (HICSS), 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Kauai, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9618-1
DOI :
10.1109/HICSS.2011.434