Aligning stakeholders' expectations: The roles of IT governance and an organizing vision.

Abstract

Key Words: IT Governance, Organizing Vision, Cognition Alignment, IT Coopertive

IT activities influencing multiple business entities may be managed through a shared service center (a.k.a. an IT cooperative) that provides IT services to support various business functions. The IT cooperative consists of stakeholder groups with individual expectations of the IT cooperative's roles and responsibilities, based on which stakeholders engage in various IT-related behaviors. In order to promote desirable IT behaviors, IT activities are directed, controlled, and coordinated through appropriately architected IT governance. Desirable IT behaviors are also shaped by an organizing vision. It is not clear, however, how exactly IT governance and the organizing vision of the IT cooperative achieve desirable IT behaviors. The focus of this study is on explicating the roles of IT governance and an organizing vision in achieving appropriate behaviors of different stakeholders relative to an IT cooperative. Looking through the lens of the theory of collective mind and the knowledge-based view of the firm, we consider how IT governance and an organizing vision align divergent cognitive structures to improve consistent understandings of expected roles and responsibilities. We also analyze the extent to which an alignment of expected roles and responsibilities, as understood by different stakeholders, leads to desirable IT behaviors. This research adopts a longitudinal design, coupled with quantitative and qualitative analyses and action research approach. The findings provide both theoretical and pragmatic implications.