Shared Understanding Among Business and IT : A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Researchers have acknowledged that shared understanding between business and IT is a crucial factor to achieve high performing teams, well aligned units, and superior business valu of IT. In addition, they agree, that this determinant of social alignment is very complex and difficult to govern. However, a goal-oriented governance will only be possible if the target is clearly and adequate defined. In this paper, we will provide a structured review of the IS literature addressing the qustion how shared business/IT understanding has been conceptualized and used in the various fields of our research community. We identify strong differences between and within these research domains regarding the conceptualization. Primarily, we find that most of the papers just analyze single aspects of shared understanding but miss the "big picture". Our findings can point researchers to potential lacks of conceptualization of Business/IT Shared Understanding in their research domain and will help to cross borders among different research strands, which all will potentially profit from a more holistic and comprehensive investigation of shared business/IT understanding and its role for effective collaboration among business and IT.

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