Among European Union countries, Sweden stands out with the highest rate of cloud computing (CC) adoption. Previous research studies have examined the technology-related determinants in CC adoption especially with a particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rather than large companies. On the other hand, there is still a need of future studies to address the lack of knowledge concerning the determinants of CC adoption with regards to socio-technical attributes such as trust, regulations, ethics, and top management support specifically in large companies in Sweden. To address this problem, this research has investigated the determinants of CC adoption in a large company in Sweden. The research has due to identification of thirty determinants of CC adoption in a large company in Sweden from which ten are new determinants of CC adoption. The new determinants of CC adoption are robustness; perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use; innovativeness and top management background; knowledge and training; the type of business/sector; organization policy, mission, and vision; industrial structure and social innovativeness; customer pressure, constraint, and needs; geographical locations/data centers. The results of this research could be used by large companies in Sweden in their comprehension of the determinants of CC adoption and how they relate to them towards improving their CC adoption in their companies.

Decentralisation, also referred to as administrative decentralisation, has gained wide recognition as a governance model associated with efficient use of resources and innovative public service delivery. Thus, it is no surprise that many unitary countries and transnational governments have embraced this public governance model. Most recently, the discourse on decentralisation of public governance has become intertwined with digital transformation within the public sector. The rationale is that digital transformation was found to support the decentralisation of public governance, improving overall organisational efficiency and the creation of added public value for citizens. Based on a systematic literature review and fifteen semi-structured interviews with public sector experts, the paper discusses how digital transformation enables the decentralisation of public governance. Digital transformation supports public organisations’ efforts to gain the most out of public governance decentralisation as it improves the efficiency of local and federal governments, citizen participation, citizen empowerment, public trust, and continuance of public administration.

The trends show an increase in IT Outsourcing (ITO) use. Studies also show that the relationship between the provider and service buyer is vital to the success of an ITO. Therefore, there needs to be more knowledge about which Influencing Factors (IFs) should be considered in ITO relationships. This study aims to support ITO organizations by identifying the IFs in ITO relationships and facilitating successful outcomes and relationships in buyer-provider partnerships in ITO. The authors used a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed research literature from 2010 to March 2023 on ITO and then applied grounded theory to better understand the IFs in ITO relationships. The study demonstrates that the main factors (Ifs) in an ITO relationship are Contract, Commitment, Communication, Collaboration and Trust. Additionally, the ITO services' loss of competence and control has also been observed. The knowledge provided in this research closes the research gap. For the practitioners, it delivers influencing factors that should be considered for building or developing a better relationship with their providers. The study suggests practitioners concentrate their ITO improvement initiatives on trust, contract, and communication as the three most important impacting IF factors on ITO relationship.

Many organizations tried to accelerate their digital transformation, but some of them failed, possibly due to poor governance. Previously the influence of ambidextrous IT governance mechanisms on digital transformation and organizational performance were studied. However, there is a need to investigate what are the key ambidextrous IT governance mechanisms that lead to a successful digital transformation and how they are implemented. A case study was conducted at BRI to address the problem. BRI is an incumbent bank that recently won numerous awards. The case study was chosen to investigate one instance in detail to discover contextual understanding that might not have become apparent priorly. The data was collected by semi-structured interviews triangulated with internal documents until data saturation. Subsequently, the collected data underwent thematic analysis. The findings revealed seven key ambidextrous IT governance mechanisms, encompassing board and executive, strategy and architecture, talent and culture, data and information, development and operation, internal and external collaborations, as well as risk and audit. The study also examined how BRI digital transformation dimensions (digital transformation strategy, strategic alignment, digital and IT assets, knowledge and capability, and innovation culture) impacted organizational performance. Lastly, BRI’s organizational performance achievements were examined using operational excellence, customer experience, industry presence, and financial return dimensions. This study offers valuable research insights by exploring the key ambidextrous IT governance mechanisms that influence digital transformation and organizational performance. The study also provides practical implications on how to implement key ambidextrous mechanisms toward a successful digital transformation, including its organizational performance achievements.

Accelerating digital transformation is imperative for incumbent organizations facing technological disruptions, fierce competition, and shifting customer behavior. However, governance challenges in digital transformation have hindered success in many cases. Building on prior studies, there is still a need to identify and measure the influence of key ambidextrous (agile-adaptive and traditional) IT governance mechanisms on digital transformation and organizational performance. A survey was conducted with 389 respondents in the Indonesian banking and insurance industry, and the data was analyzed using SEM-PLS. The study has revealed that boards and executives, strategy and architecture, data and information, and internal and external collaborations, strongly impact digital transformation, while development and operations, risk and audit, and talent and culture, are showing a moderate influence on digital transformation. Whereas digital transformation strongly influences organizational performance. Moreover, this study provides practical insights to guide organizational leaders in making informed resource decisions by using the 34 validated indicators.

Due to disruption from digital technologies, competition, behavioral shifts, regulations, and pandemics, incumbent organizations need to expedite their digital transformation. However, a lot of investments in digital transformation have failed because of poor governance. Prior studies have identified the hybrid IT governance mechanisms that impact digital transformation, consisting agile-adaptive and traditional approaches. Measuring the extent to which mechanisms influence digital transformation and organizational performance is important. Therefore, a survey strategy has been used to gather online questionnaire data from 338 respondents in the Indonesian banking and insurance industries, and then analyze it using the SEM-PLS method. The findings indicate that while both agile-adaptive and traditional IT governance mechanisms have a moderate influence on digital transformation, the transformation has a strong influence on organizational performance. The results contribute to research by investigating the influence extent of hybrid IT governance mechanisms on organizational performance, which is fully mediated by the digital transformation. There is also a practical implication from this study by providing the measurement items for both hybrid IT governance mechanisms, essential for guiding practitioners in their digital transformation journeys.

Digital transformation is considered a source of competitive advantage and improved organisational performance. Within the public sector, leaders anticipate digital transformation to help them improve transparency and accountability, and stakeholders’ participation in public decision-making. At the same time, the accelerated adoption of digital technologies within the sector has also made information an important asset. Thus, the effectiveness of the information security management put in place determines whether an organisation can realise the benefits of successful digital transformation. Adopting a mixed-method approach (13 interviews and an online survey with 128 information security experts), this study identified various antecedents of effective information security management, i.e., leadership skills and attitudes, organisational culture, organisational structure, IT governance, IT alignment, and human resource management practices. Partial Least Structural Equation Modelling technique was adopted to test the proposed theoretical model and hypothesised causal relationships.

Incumbent businesses need to accelerate their digital transformation due to disruption from digital technologies, competition, behavioural changes, regulation, and pandemics. Nevertheless, many digital transformation investments have failed due to poor governance. Previous research has identified the hybrid of traditional and agile-adaptive IT governance mechanisms that influence digital transformation. However, it is important to measure the extent of mechanisms’ influence on organizational performance. Therefore, online survey data from 338 Indonesian banking and insurance respondents have been collected and analysed using the SEM-PLS. The results show that hybrid IT governance mechanisms have moderate influences on digital transformation, and digital transformation strongly influences organizational performance. The study contributes to research by analysing the effect of hybrid IT governance mechanisms on organizational performance, fully mediated by digital transformation. In practical terms, the measurement items from the hybrid IT governance mechanisms, digital transformation and organizational performance dimensions can be useful for guiding digital transformation journeys.

The widespread acceptance of digital transformation has brought the topic to the top of researchers’ and practitioners’ agendas. However, despite the anticipated benefits and opportunities, evidence suggests that many organisations still struggle to realise the results of successful digital transformation. The recent data from academic literature, consultancy firms and media reports indicate that, on average, between 70 and 80 per cent of digital transformation projects fail. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the figure for organisations in the public sector stands at 78 per cent. Among others, one of the reasons cited for this challenge is a phenomenon referred to as ‘IT alignment’—the appropriate and timely application of information technology (IT) in congruence with the overall organisational goals, internal organisational settings, and external environments.

The recognition of the critical role IT alignment plays in digital transformation has triggered calls for studies investigating the relationship between the two constructs, in various organisational contexts. However, a closer look at the extant literature reveals that public organisations were not the focus of studies exploring IT alignment’s role in successful digital transformation. This paucity of knowledge needs to be addressed since the differences between private and public organisations influence the adoption of emerging technologies. Thus, scholars argue that our comprehension of the relationship between the two constructs, based on studies conducted in private organisations, might not apply to public organisations. To address this gap and respond to the calls for further research, this study investigated the role of IT alignment in the digital transformation of public organisations. In addition to two systematic literature reviews, the thesis presents the results of two case studies with two follow-up confirmatory surveys.

The research question answered in this thesis is: “How can public organisations pursue IT alignment to enable successful digital transformation?” The main results of the study presented are the following. First, three roles of IT alignment for digital transformation in a public organisation are identified, i.e., enabling organisational agility, improving the value derived from IT investments, and enabling integration of digital technologies. Second, the organisational and managerial factors that influence IT alignment are revealed: i.e., organisational agility, organisational structure, organisational culture, leadership skills, digital metrics, HR management, stakeholder relationships, and external domain alignment. The study also ranked the relative degree of influence of the identified factors on IT alignment. Third, based on two systematic literature reviews and the analysis of interviews and survey data, the thesis proposed a framework with 19 actions that decision-makers could take to improve IT alignment, thereby enabling successful digital transformation. These 19 actions are linked to six IT alignment dimensions, which, in turn, are used for improving the degree of IT alignment.

The findings of the study presented in this thesis have various research and practical implications. First, the study contributes to research on the relationships between various organisational and managerial factors, the six dimensions of IT alignment, and the success of digital transformation in public organisations. Second, the study contributes to practice, as leaders in the public sector can use the findings, especially the 19 actions, as they make the necessary organisation-wide adjustments to improve IT alignment. As the finds of the studies presented in the thesis indicate, public organisations can succeed in their digital transformation endeavours when they improve the degree of IT alignment. To this end, understanding the relative degree of influence of the identified factors and the order of priority of the proposed actions will be invaluable.

One of the complex tasks for leaders in organisations going through digital transformation is managing the interplay between emerging technologies and organisations’ settings—organisational design, business processes and overall organisational goals (i.e., a phenomenon referred to as IT alignment). Despite the recognition of the link between IT alignment and digital transformation, we still know little about how IT alignment can be improved to realise successful digital transformation. Based on the analysis of 31 interviews and internal organisational documents in two public organisations, we identified five categories of determinant factors influencing IT alignment. The findings were used to formulate a model theorising a relationship between these factors and IT alignment in organisations during digital transformation. Quantitative data, collected through an online survey from 426 respondents within the public sector, was used to validate the theoretical model. The final result confirms that public organisations’ attempts to improve IT alignment results in the success of their digital transformation. The result of our study has implications for research and practice as it identifies and ranks the degree of influence of various factors on IT alignment.

Digital transformation undertaken in many public organisations often fail to result in the anticipated results. Given the recognition of the important role of IT alignment as one of the prerequisites for digital transformation, this study explores how public organisations can improve the degree of IT alignment. Thus, a case study is conducted in four sub-cities within a city administration, applying interviews and internal documents as multiple sources of data. The findings indicate that public organisations are likely to succeed in their digital transformation attempts if they can appropriately manage IT alignment-related factors. These factors identified—organisational structure, organisational culture, organisational agility, leadership skills, human resource management, digital metrics, external domain alignment, and stakeholder relationships—are categorised and presented as managerial or organisational. The contributions of the study for research and practice are presented.

Cloud Computing (CC) is an increasingly alternative for IT Outsourcing (ITO). There is a consensus that a good ITO relationship between the service buyer and provider is a prerequisite for the success of an ITO. However, there is a lack of studies concerning the relationships between large companies owned by public organizations and CC-providers in Sweden. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about the risks that could jeopardize relationships between companies owned by public organizations and their CC providers. Thus, this study seeks to answer the research question: “What are the risk factors to consider for building and maintaining a successful relationship between CC-providers and companies owned by public organizations in Sweden from a buyer's perspective?”. The study has identified seven most critical risk factors that should be considered to keep or build a well-working relationship between CC parties. These factors are contracts, the client's degree of expertise in IT operations, measurement problems, the Swedish Public Procurement Act, provider challenges, relatedness, and ex-ante imperfection. The findings of this study can be used by large public organizations in Sweden who plan to use or who are using CC in order to mitigate the risks in CC relationships.

Digitization is already changing Europe and the whole world. Whether or not we can leverage its opportunities to foster prosperity, human well-being, and sustainability depends on the strategic decisions taken today. Will the countries work together to embrace these opportunities, or will they let this chance pass? Overcoming historical divides and acting solidarity united in a prosperous Europe is the only way. As digital frontrunners, the IS researchers have a key role to play and the responsibility to act as an engine to make the digital transition happen at a sufficiently fast pace for Europe to remain competitive in a rapidly digitizing world. Digitization in united societies is about bringing people together, having a better life and a bright future. Together we can build societies collectively inclusive, innovative, and able to adapt to the massive societal challenges of the 21st century. ECIS 2022 will bring together information systems (IS) researchers in East and West, being only the second time in Eastern Europe after Gdańsk, Poland, in 2002. ECIS in Timișoara will provide a unique opportunity to unite IS researchers in Europe, making it an inclusive conference that allows all academics from AIS Region 2 to participate. We believe that the participants will find the conference fee really likeable and we promise to deliver good value for the money. Timișoara’s aim is to connect and ultimately digitally unite academics and societies.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face competition in today's digital economy and a marketplace that is constantly changing and dynamic. Therefore, SMEs aspire to achieve a competitive advantage, enhance their organizational performance, and improve their businesses through a digital transformation (DT). Previous research studies still lack a deep knowledge of the barriers in digital transformation in SMEs in a developing country like Nigeria. Therefore, this research aims to determine the barriers that a small and medium company in Nigeria faces regarding DT. The findings of this study revealed twenty-three barriers in DT of which nine are similar to those identified in previous research literature and fourteen are new barriers. The identified barriers in DT can help managers in SMEs in Nigeria as well in other developing countries to understand how to mitigate them and have a successful DT.

Researchers and practitioners have found culture to be very important to digital transformation. However, despite the widespread consensus about the importance of culture in successful digital transformations, only a limited number of studies have explicitly focused on the cultural aspects in digital transformation in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). This research investigates and analyses the important cultural values in digital transformation in a small company operating in the IT industry. The findings of this study are nine organisational values, from which eight values show similarities to the existing research. In contrast, the organisational value entitled “affinity towards the organisation” has been identified as a new organisational value in digital transformation in small companies. The identified cultural values can raise the awareness of organisations’ management planning or currently engaged in a digital transformation and help organisations recognise cultural values that can contribute to digital transformation initiatives’ success or failure.

IT alignment is recognised as one of the prerequisites for digital transformation in the extant literature. To further our understanding of this relationship, a case study was conducted in a public organisation (city administration). Data was collected through interviews and internal-organisational documents in four sub-cities within the city administration. The findings suggest that an organisation’s attempt to reach IT- aligned position improves the likelihood of successful digital transformation. The analysis also revealed various factors influencing IT alignment in a public organisation undertaking digital transformation. These factors are presented in eight categories---organisational structure, organisational culture, organisational agility, leadership skills, human resource management, digital metrics, external domain alignment, and stakeholder relationships. The contributions of the study for research and practice are also discussed. 

A Digital Transformation fundamentally involves the implementation of one or more digital tools, which is a process often burdened with challenges. It is estimated that approximately 66 to 84 percent of the taken Digital Transformation initiatives are unsuccessful, which can be attributed to organizational shortcomings, more specifically structural ones. While public organizations regularly do not achieve the same success as those in the private sector, it was of interest to investigate the Swedish ones. Where 86 percent of residents use the internet to interact with public authorities. Previous research has singled out the IT organization to be the appointed leader of Digital Transformations, further research on that relationship is limited. Therefore, this study examines how the IT organization, in an agile environment, can align its structure for a successful Digital Transformation. To answer the discovered research problem, the following research question has been formulated: “How should an IT organization’s structure be aligned in an agile environment in order to achieve a successful Digital Transformation?”. This is research in progress and will be continued by conducting case studies in four public organizations. Data will be collected through semi0structured interviews and analyzed thematically. Finally, a presentation of different aspect of organizational structure alignment through digital transformation based on these cases will be provided.

Managing digital transformation is a complex enterprise dependent on various organisational, managerial, and technological factors. Among others, the influence of factors related to IT alignment on digital transformation is recognised. This study attempts to establish the significance of eight organisational and managerial factors (organisational agility, organisational structure, organisational culture, leadership skills, digital metrics, HR management, stakeholder relationships, and external domain alignment). Our aim is to investigate whether these factors’ influence on IT alignment affects the success of digital transformation in public organisations. The proposed conceptual research model, founded on related prior studies, was tested with quantitative data collected through a survey from 402 leaders. Our results indicate that IT alignment is positively related to digital transformation success in public organisations. However, the PLS-SEM analysis reveals a varying degree of influence among the factors on IT alignment as organisations undertake digital transformation. 

IT governance (ITG) structures, processes, and relational mechanisms play an important role in supporting organisations' digital transformations (DT). However, traditional ITG mechanisms might no longer be valid. Unfortunately, few studies have investigated this phenomenon. Previously, a systematic literature review based on top rank journals and conference proceedings has identified 28 ITG mechanisms influencing DT. A Delphi study was conducted to validate these mechanisms to examine perceived experiences among Indonesian banking and insurance industry experts. The results provide the researchers and practitioners with a validated and extended list of 46 ITG mechanisms that influence DT, including 20 structures, 21 processes, and 5 relational mechanisms. Moreover, the results include a perceived ranking of the effectiveness and ease of implementation of the ITG mechanisms. Finally, the paper presents the top ten important ITG mechanisms, which could be used as a baseline toward a successful DT journey for banking and insurance organisations.

Digital transformation has been an interesting concept from the organizational perspective for a long time. The benefits of a successful digital transformation can take your organization into the next step by providing an increased organizational growth, aid market reachability by penetrating new and exciting markets, or enable your business operations to function to a greater extent than before with higher efficiency and lower lead times. Digital transformation is however a complex and diverse concept that means to integrate new innovations by using digital technology into the organization with the need of making greater organizational changes to succeed. This research, has explored how different organizational aspects like structural, technological and cultural ones can impact the success of a digital transformation during an ERP system change. A case study has been conducted in a company to identify how the current structural, technological, and cultural aspects influence the current digital transformation in that the company. The data was collected through interviews with employees having managerial roles and from internal documents of company and was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show an agile approach, a more decentralized structure and high readiness for change, along with a transparent communication between management and co-workers to be beneficial for a successfully digital transformation.

In recent years, companies in almost all the industries have been exploring new ways to use digital technologies to generate value from digital investments. However, many companies are struggling to realize the digital transformation due to various existing barriers. They face many obstacles in the development and implementation of new digital processes. In cases where the companies fail to reflect upon these barriers, digital transformation processes carry the risk of not being realized successfully. Therefore, this study has looked to identify the barriers in digital transformation, in a company in the IT sector in Sweden. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the team members involved in digital transformation and from the company's documents, and then thematically analyzed. The findings of this research study are that there are 28 barriers in digital transformation from which 15 are new barriers that could support executives and managers who are planning a digital transformation in their organizations.

Business-IT alignment (BITA) has been recognised as an essential but challenging endeavour for researchers and practitioners. In fact, BITA has become even more challenging when organisations articulate and implement the necessary changes—strategic, tactical and operational planning, and structural and cultural adaptations—for a successful digital transformation. To reveal BITA’s and the related factors that are important for digital transformation, a systematic literature review of studies published between the years 2016 and 2020 were conducted. The results confirm that BITA improves the value derived from IT and digital technologies, enables organisational agility, and the integration of new digital technologies. Moreover, the study has identified the organisational and managerial factors that are BITA related and are essential for digital transformation—organisational structure, organisational culture, external domain alignment, and leadership skills. Finally, the study provides a future research agenda as well as the implications for research and practice. 

Many organizations are concerned about growing their direct investments in digital technologies and going through a digital transformation (DT) that offers value creation opportunities. It has been found that IT governance (ITG) plays an important role in organizations' digital initiatives. Previous studies have identified ITG structures, processes, and relational mechanisms to increase the firms’ performance. However, the traditional ITG mechanisms might no longer be valid in this digital era. Unfortunately, few studies have investigated this area. Therefore, a systematic literature review was performed to identify the ITG mechanisms that influence DT. During the review process, 46 articles were selected from top-rank journals and conference proceedings and analyzed. The process revealed 28 ITG mechanisms that influence DT. The study contributes to both research and practice, providing researchers with the ITG mechanisms that influence DT and informing practitioners on which ITG mechanisms to focus on towards a successful DT.

Several predictions show an increase in Cloud Computing (CC) in the coming years. The risks in CC relationships can jeopardize the CC services; therefore, this research has looked to find the risk factors in CC relationships in public organizations in Sweden. A survey research strategy has been applied and the data was collected through interviews with IT decision-makers with relevant experience in CC relationships. The study has identified security as a critical risk factor. The CC clients do not trust their providers and therefore, they do not place sensitive data in the cloud. Additionally, we have found other risks in CC that are not critical, like, asset specificity, a small number of suppliers, uncertainty, relatedness, measurement problems, competences. The reason for this result is the low complexity of services in the studied public organizations. The findings of this study are several risk factors that public organizations should be aware of for improving their relationship in CC arrangements.

The cloud archetype is fundamentally dynamic for both service customer and service provider. From the provider's perspective, resources are removed and/or added irregularly and urgently together with updating of service level agreements (SLAs). However, this dynamical behavior makes contracting sophisticated. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge on how to handle these dynamics contractually. To address this knowledge gap, the authors have investigated “how to improve SLA management with dynamic SLA iterations.” For this reason, a model for cloud computing SLA negotiation is proposed to facilitate the buying organization in determining uncertainty by analyzing attributes of asset specificity and risks associated with them. Survey research has been used for testing the model. The respondents rationalized the SLA negotiation with a better cognitive understanding in all phases within the model. The study's findings could support cloud service buying organizations to minimize the risks with ever-changing requirements.

Three-decades long IS research suggests that Information technology (IT) alignment is regarded as one of the pervasive issues among researchers and practitioners. Given the current dynamic business environment, organisations need to foresee external changes and make necessary adjustments (i.e., they need to be agile) while attempting to achieve and maintain IT alignment. However, the research on the two streams—IT alignment and organisational agility—seems not to overlap yet. On the other hand, the prior studies investigating the relationship between the two constructs report contradictory findings. To address the lack of knowledge about the influence of organisational agility on IT alignment in the public sector, this study presents the results of a mixed-method research conducted in four sub-city administrations in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. The findings suggest that organisations success to reach IT alignment while aiming for organisational agility is the function of environmental volatility and stakeholder relationships. 

Business-IT alignment (BITA) continues to be a top management concern for the last ten years. Moreover, organizations mangers are still looking to understand the barriers between the status of alignment and misalignment. The barriers in BITA differ from a business area to another and particularly the authors have not found any research studies concerning the barriers in BITA in the manufacturing area in Sweden. Therefore, the research question is: What are the strategic, tactical, and operational barriers in business-IT alignment in a large company in manufacturing area? The research strategy is case study, and the data was collected through semi-structured interviews and also from company's internal documents and it was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of this study are a number of thirty barriers in BITA that includes six new barriers in BITA at operational, tactical and strategic level.

Business-IT Alignment (BITA) is still one of the top management concerns in many organizations due to its strategic benefits. Researchers have highlighted the importance of understanding the significance of BITA in improving organizational performance and gaining competitive advantage. BITA is a dynamic process, and organizations need to adjust it continuously. Moreover, there is still a need for new knowledge on the barriers in BITA in different organizations, like e.g., those from developing countries where were done a few research studies. Therefore, this research has focused on organizations from the banking sectors of The Gambia to identify the barriers in BITA. The research strategy used was survey research and the data was collected through semi-structured interviews combine with internal documents of the studied organizations and analyzed using thematic analysis. The study has identified in total 26 barriers in BITA from which eight are new barriers in BITA in the banking sector organizations of The Gambia. The results of the study contribute to BITA research and can help business and IT managers in attaining and sustaining business-IT alignment and improving their organizational performance.

For the last four decades, the alignment of business and IT strategies also referred to as business-IT alignment (BITA), has been recognised as one of the top concerns for leaders. The current digital transformation journey undertaken by most organisations, however, triggered a new approach to planning and executing business and IT strategies as well as pursuing BITA. A systematic literature review is conducted to capture the paradigmatic shift in research and practice. A total of 94 articles published between 2014 and 2018 were identified searching through databases known to index reputable IS journals and conference proceedings. The analysis of the review revealed the continued conceptual debate on BITA construct as well as new research topics. The significance of digital strategy, enterprise architecture models, as well as intelligent IT systems to enable elicitation, implementation and assessment of activities enabling BITA are garnering the attention of researchers. Potential research directions are presented.

Digital transformation is a sine qua non in the business operations in private and public sector organizations. However, in achieving digital transformation in public organizations of significance importance are the cultural barriers. Previous studies on the barriers in digital transformation have mainly focused on private organizations, and less attention has been given to cultural barriers in digital transformation in public organizations. Therefore, this research has focused on the case of a public organization like Inland Revenue Department (IRD) in Sri-Lanka to identify the cultural barriers in digital transformation. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and from internal documents (organizational publications and annual performance reports of IRD), and was analyzed using thematic analysis. The research has identified a number of twenty-one cultural barriers that were classified into five themes. Out of those twenty-one, twelve were recognized as new cultural barriers in digital transformation in public organizations. The results of this research are important for both researchers in this area as well as the managers in public organizations to focus their efforts, mitigate the identified cultural barriers, and improve the digital transformation implementation in their organizations.

Relationship management in IT Outsourcing (ITO) is widely accepted as a prerequisite for a successful ITO. However, there is still a need for understanding the important factors that contribute to a successful ITO relationship in large companies in Sweden. Therefore, this study wants to address this knowledge gap. The studied companies are the largest ones regarding turnover in Sweden and are present in the “Large Cap” segment at Nasdaq Stockholm Exchange. The results of this research are compared with a previous study done in 2012 in large companies in Sweden. The findings show that the most important factors (from a buyer’s perspective) for a successful ITO relationship are communication; conflict and conflict resolution; trust; commitment; cooperation; and internal competence. The identified relational factors in this study contribute to ITO research and can help ITO decision-makers in large companies to have successful ITO relationships and improve their ITO.

Information technology (IT) alignment studies which focus on conceptual debates have left little room for studies investigating practical issues such as organisational structure. On the other hand, the attention paid to private and commercial organisations has resulted in findings that might not apply to public organisations. To address this gap in the literature, and respond to calls for further research, this study explored the influence of formal and informal organisational structures on IT alignment in a public organisation.

This thesis is a compilation of three studies—a systematic literature review and two case studies. The literature review revealed the lack of IT alignment studies in public organisations focusing on organisational structure. The findings of the case studies, conducted in one Swedish municipality, indicate the simultaneous existence of a formal and informal organisational structure which influenced IT alignment. The result of the qualitative case study revealed a centralised formal organisational structure, and three forms of informal organisational structure—interpersonal relationships, cross-departmental relationships, and professional networks—were identified. The findings also seem to indicate that the identified organisational structure forms have influence on IT alignment. The second (i.e. quantitative) case study established the strength of these effects.

Among the identified organisational structure forms, cross-departmental relationships were found to have the most substantial influence on IT alignment, particularly on communications, partnership and the dynamic IT scope. The influence of a centralised organisation structure on IT governance was also confirmed.  While the influence of interpersonal relationships on the three dimensions of IT alignment—communications, IT governance and skills development—was established, the influence of professional networks on IT alignment could not be substantiated.

This study makes several contributions to research and practice in IT alignment. Although prior studies have investigated the role of different organisational structures in IT alignment, the contribution of this research is that it looked into the influence of both formal and informal organisational structures on IT alignment, simultaneously. The research has also assessed the relative significance of various forms of organisational structure on IT alignment. Leaders and managers in the public sector can make use of the findings of this research to help them identify different organisational structure forms and make the necessary adjustments to improve IT alignment.

IT alignment in public organisations is considered to be one of the missing pieces in the otherwise rich research area in the IS domain. Researchers also criticise the lack of studies addressing practical issues related to IT alignment, particularly in public organisations. One such area of concern is the contradictory findings of prior studies on the role of formal and informal organisations on IT alignment. A case study was conducted in one public organisation to establish the influence of different forms of organisational structure on IT alignment. A theoretical model was proposed based on a previous study and literature, which is then tested with data collected from a survey among 163 IT and administrative personnel in a Swedish public organisation. The results suggest that centralised organisational structure as well as the two forms of informal organisational structures—interpersonal relationships and cross-departmental relationships influence IT alignment. However, the influence of professional networks on IT alignment is not significant. The findings are important for researchers and practitioners in public organisations.

IT alignment, even though extensively researched in the last decades, remains to be challenging. Previous studies are criticised for two reasons. First, the majority of the studies focus on the conceptual debate, while practical issues that have implications on IT alignment are overlooked. One of these issues is the influence of organisational structure on IT alignment. Second, studies in few organisational settings, namely private and commercial organisations, have resulted in findings that are not applicable for organisations in other sectors–public organisations. To address the gap in the literature, this study aims to explore the influence of formal and informal organisational structures on IT alignment in a public organisation. As public organisations are joining the trend of digital transformation, identifying appropriate organisational structure that foster IT alignment is an important and timely issue. The result of the case study, conducted in one Swedish municipality, revealed the influence of centralised organisational structure as well as three types of informal organisational structure—interpersonal relationships, professional networks, and crossdepartmental relationships—on IT alignment. The findings could be used by leaders in public organisations to design an effective organisational structure that can improve IT alignment and its maturity.

The social dimension of alignment plays an important role in business-IT alignment (BITA). The study aimed to get in-depth knowledge of barriers in BITA by identifying and analyzing factors that inhibit alignment from the social perspective using as case study the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) of the Republic of Indonesia. Based on the data collected through semi-structured interviews and internal documents from this public organization in Indonesia, the data was thematic analyzed. The findings of the study are 15 social barriers in BITA in MEMR from which the following five are new social barriers in BITA: uncoordinated IT initiatives; sectoral ego; frequent rotation of executives in organizational structure; poor understanding of IT for growing; and the lack of support by the business in IT initiatives continuation. The findings of the study can be considered by other public organizations that aim to improve their alignment between business and IT, and finally their public service delivery.

Cloud computing is used to a greater extent in today’s organizations and enables organizations to obtain on-demand network access to IT services. When cloud computing is adopted in an organization, the IT governance becomes more challenging, because organizations need to address business and IT-related processes as well as managing risks and maintaining the relationship with cloud computing vendors. This research aims at finding how cloud computing service model specifically Software as a Service (SaaS) influence IT governance structures, processes and relational mechanisms in a public organization. For this purpose a case study was conducted in a Swedish municipality and the data was collected through interviews with IT managers and from internal documents of municipality and was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of this study shows that SaaS influences the IT governance structure by improving roles and responsibilities definition and speeds up the decision-making processes. Moreover, the communication with the vendors is more efficient due to the use of SaaS.

Information technology governance (ITG) is one of the top challenges of managers today and culture in different level can have an important role while implementing IT governance. This is a new and significant issue, which has not been investigated deeply. This paper sets out to provide a systematic review of the literature, focusing on the role of culture in IT governance. The literature review findings are categorized through the lens of IT governance’s five focus areas which are IT strategic alignment, IT value delivery, Risk management, IT resource management and Performance measurement. This study contributes to the field of IT governance by reviewing and discussing the existing literature on the role of culture on IT governance. This literature review resulted that there are few research studies in this topic and many of the IT governance focus areas are not covered regarding the role of culture in these IT governance areas.

The ability to detect and respond to change with ease, speed, flexibility and dexterity – referred to as agility – has become a necessary ability for almost any IT organization. In fact, today's IT organizations need to deliver products and services faster and in a more agile manner than before. Despite its importance, there is a lack of research on what barriers exists towards achieving agility in IT organizations. This article explores what factors inhibit agility within an IT organization in a large company in Sweden. The data was collected using interviews, internal documents and observations. An IT organization agility dimensions framework was used to identify and contextualize the barriers to agility. The findings, show that agility is as much a tactical and managerial issue as it is operational. The holistic approach of exploring barriers to agility in an IT organization fills a knowledge gap in research literature, and extends the existing body of knowledge concerning agility for IT organization.

The lack of adoption of eGovernment by citizens has been cited to be one of the reasons for failures of most eGovernment initiatives. A systematic literature review was conducted to shade light on the current status of the research in this area with a focus on the research goals, research design, research strategies,scientific theories used and research methods. Major databasesindexing reputable journals in information systems and e-government area were searched by using keywords to collect relevant articles for analysis. A total of 19 articles were identified which indicated that empirical studies with survey asresearch strategy and questionnaires as a data collection method dominatesthe publications list while the use of case studies as research strategy was found to be scarce. The review has also highlighted several limitations related to the choice of research methods and its implication on furthering the understanding of the research on this topic.

This book addresses the buying organizations' perspective on risks, relationships and success factors for accomplishing a successful IT Outsourcing (ITO). Today’s landscape in ITO is complex and these perspectives are important in ITO and therefore there is still a need for it to be further explored. Furthermore the studies concerned the risks, relationships and success factors in ITO need to be extended in more large companies from different countries to better understand how we could improve the ITO in these companies. In order to address this issue the authors of this book have performed different studies that span about 10 years concerning the risks, relationships and success factors in ITO in large companies in Sweden. The authors have focused on both theoretical and practical aspects concerning risks, relationships and success factors in ITO and they have used transaction cost theory, agency theory and core competency theory as main theories to support their research. The data concerning this study has been collected at two different times during the last 10 years with about five years' difference between them. In this way the performed research has enabled a comparison of the data collected on two different periods in time including of the related changes. The book will help researchers in ITO as well as practitioners like ITO decision makers in large companies to understand how to mitigate the ITO risks, improve their ITO relationships and identify the ITO success factors.

Business-IT alignment (BITA) continues to attract the interest of researchers and practitioners. Literature review reveals that the focus of past studies was investigated BITA mostly at (1) strategic level, in (2) private and commercial organisations, and in (3) developed countries. Thus, making a generalisation from these findings is difficult. The current study is aimed at shading light on the barriers of BITA based on a case study in a public organisation like The Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria. The data was collected through semi-structured email interviews from business and IT managers as well as IT officers and also from internal organisational documents too. The data collected has been analysed using thematic analysis and has revealed six BITA barriers at tactical and operational levels like previous IT failures, lack of feedback mechanism, organisational structure, lack of standard infrastructure, insufficient time to acquire knowledge, and poor communication between the mangers.

Managers face enormous challenges today to plan the decision rights and responsibilities in order to reach desired IT behaviors which are aligned with business objectives of organizations. This is known as IT governance and is ranked as one of the firms' top concerns. Not surprisingly, it is crucial for organizations to find the affecting factors on IT governance and solve the problems associated with it. Culture in national, organizational or group level is an affecting factor in organizations that can play a role in IT governance and this role is rarely explored in academic research. This paper provides a literature review investigating the influence of culture on IT governance. The research purpose is to identify how culture and IT governance in the companies can be linked together and promote this area for future research. The literature review is done systematically and the findings are classified by using an IT governance framework with three main components of structures, processes and relational mechanisms. The results indicate there is an influence from national and organizational culture on IT governance. However, the number of studies is very few and there is still a lack of knowledge on how culture can influence IT governance. This research calls upon a further research on culture impact on achieving an effective IT governance implementation in organizations.

Business-IT alignment (BITA) continues to be important for organizations and has received a considerable attention during the last 25 years from academic research. The organizational size has already been found to affect business-IT alignment but there are still a fewer research studies exploring BITA in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) compared with those studies done on large-size companies. Moreover the previous research studies have less focused on understanding the existing factors hindering BITA in SMEs particularly in China. Especially in regards to China, where there are millions of SMEs that are facing different challenges in achieving and sustaining their business-IT alignment. Therefore, case studies have been conducted in three SMEs in China that have no more than 250 employees and their turnover does not exceed 50 million annually. The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with managers in these SMEs and also from SMEs internal documents and then analyzed thematically. The results of this study are a number of 26 factors hindering BITA in SMEs in China including seven new factors that are hindering BITA in these SMEs. The findings of this study could help researchers but also business and IT practitioners to understand the factors that are hindering BITA in Chinese SMEs and the actions to be taken for aligning business and IT strategy.

In today's complex organizations, IT governance is an important managerial challenge. IT governance deals with decisions and responsibilities concerning IT. There are many factors influencing IT governance. One factor that has remained relatively unexplored by academic research is that of organizational culture. This research explores the influence of the organizational culture of collaborative networks on IT governance performance. A case study was conducted in a large complex company with several networks. The findings indicated that the networks desire different organizational culture types based on their priorities for IT governance outcomes. A clan organizational culture is desired when aiming for effective use of IT for asset utilization and cost effective use of IT. An adhocracy culture is desired when prioritizing the effective use of IT for business growth. Finally a combination of market and hierarchy organizational culture is desired when seeking effective use of IT for business flexibility and cost cutting.

A company has to operate with flexibility and cost-efficiency due to the continuously competitive business environment. Nowadays, cloud computing (CC) plays an essential part in flexibility and cost-efficiency of IT infrastructure. Companies using CC have to know how different types of contracts and their terms, modes of relationships, contract quality, and relationship management influence their CC activities. This article discusses how to build successful relationships in CC. The field of this study is CC from a service buyer perspective. The applied research strategy was survey research and the data was collected through interviews with IT managers in different medium-sized companies in Sweden. To identify and analyse the influencing factors of relationships in CC this research has used Transaction Cost Theory. The findings of this research are the identified influential factors to improve a cloud computing relationship like asset specificity, fee-for-service contracts, contract length, provider/buyer organisation sizes and the number of providers including guidelines for decision makers to strengthen this CC relationship.

Information Technology Governance (ITG) is among the most important challenges for the managers today. IT is not anymore just a supportive tool but also a strategic driver for the businesses. In the dynamic and competitive world of today, it is crucial for organizations to know how to govern IT rather than just to use it. IT governance deals with specifying responsibilities and decision rights to encourage the desirable behaviour from IT and generate value from IT investments. IT governance can impact the overall performance of organizations, however there are still difficulties in understanding IT governance and the factors that may influence it.

Organizational culture and structure are among the factors that have significant influence on many issues in an organization. According to previous research, organizational culture and structure need to be considered when implementing IT governance. However, there is a lack of research focusing on how organizational culture and structure can influence IT governance performance and implementation. Thus, the main research question addressed in this thesis is: How are organizational culture and structure related to IT governance? To address this question, this research has performed literature reviews and conducted case studies to investigate the role of organizational culture and structure on IT governance. As the first step, the previous literature was reviewed to find the gaps in the research on culture and IT governance. As the next step, four case studies were conducted to explore the influence of organizational culture and structure on IT governance. Two case studies have investigated the relation between organizational structure and IT governance implementation and performance in large organizations; and two other case studies investigated on how different types of organizational culture influence IT governance performance outcomes.

The results of this research respond to the research question by specifying the role of culture in IT governance through a categorization of prior research both from research and practice perspectives; specifying the influence of different organizational culture types on IT governance performance outcomes in different organizations; and by specifying IT organizational structure relationship with IT governance performance outcomes and IT governance implementation.

The research presented in this thesis provides both theoretical and empirical contributions to the IT governance research and practice.

Despite being one of the widely researched topics, information technology governance (IT governance) in the context of public organizations is less explored. A systematic literature review is conducted to provide an overview of the current status of the research area and propose future research directions. Databases indexing the reputable journals and top conference proceedings in the information systems area were searched to collect articles for analysis. A total of 109 relevant articles were identified and included in the analysis of the literature review. The findings of the literature are presented according to the research questions, and potential research directions are proposed.

Despite the long list of cumulative research, business-IT alignment remains to be evasive for practitioners and researchers. As organizations continue to spend a significant amount of their resources on IT to improve the variety and quality of services, achieving and maintaining business-IT alignment is a timely issue. Studies indicate that organizational structure, among other factors, plays an important role on whether organizations succeed in achieving business-IT alignment. A systematic literature review is conducted to provide an overview of previous studies as well as point out possible future research directions. A total of 31 articles were identified and included in the review. The findings indicate that there are few studies poised to address the lack of knowledge on how the formal/informal organizational structure's influence on business-IT alignment. The study presents a summary of previous findings on organizational structure's influence on business-IT alignment and identifies potential future research directions.

In today's complex organizations, IT governance is an important managerial challenge. IT governance deals with decisions and responsibilities concerning IT. There are many factors influencing IT governance. One factor that has remained relatively unexplored by academic research is that of organizational culture. This research explores the influence of the organizational culture of collaborative networks on IT governance performance. A case study was conducted in a large complex company with several networks. The findings indicated that the networks fit better with different organizational culture types based on their priorities for IT governance outcomes to maximize performance. A clan organizational culture is desired when aiming for effective use of IT for asset utilization and cost-effective use of IT. An adhocracy culture fits better when prioritizing the effective use of IT for business growth. Finally, a combination of market and hierarchy organizational culture is desired and fits better when seeking effective use of IT for business flexibility and cost cutting.