The influence of middle management on information technology alignment

Strategy alignment challenges are a longstanding concern of information technology (IT) executives as both business dependence and spending on IT have grown continually. Dominant research shows that the varying degrees of contribution from IT investments are closely tied to alignment. However, limited attention has been given to the examination of middle management, top management's driving force to operationalize strategic direction. Using top and middle management informants, we investigate the middle management influence on business and IT strategy alignment. Drawing from literature, we identify three factors - middle management IT involvement, middle management IT commitment, and middle management IT strategy awareness - as antecedents to strategy alignment. Our test results suggest that IT commitment and IT strategy awareness have a positive influence on alignment. Hence, our findings reveal that middle management has a significant and direct added value to business and IT strategy alignment.