IT Alignment in Public Organizations: A Systematic Literature Review

IT alignment is one of the widely researched topics in the information systems research area and continue to be a top management concern. However, IT alignment in the context of public organizations is still less explored. A systematic literature review is conducted to provide an overview of the current status of the research in this area and the possible future research directions. Major databases and top conference proceedings in information systems and e-government area were searched by using key words to collect articles for analysis. Finally, a total of 58 articles were identified and included in the literature review. The findings of this study indicate case study research as the most preferred research method. But due to the small numbers of public organizations explored in these studies the results are problematic for generalisation. Apart from these findings we have identified and discussed the research concepts addressed in IT alignment in public organizations studies that were categorized using the dimensions of Strategic Alignment Maturity model. The findings of this study have revealed some potential future research directions that have been less explored like organizational culture, organizational politics, social interaction, and informal organizational structure influence on IT alignment in public organizations.