Measuring it core capabilities: results from a confirmatory factor analysis

This paper reports on the theoretical development and empirical validation of a measurement instrument for three core capabilities of IT departments. The instrument is based on the work of Feeny & Willcocks (1998) and includes the capabilities “IS/IT governance”, “Business system thinking” and “Relationship building”. The sample consists of mostly IT managers. Results demonstrate that the constructs are high coefficients > 0.8). A confirmatory factor analysis on the dataset suggests fit on most measures. However, a respecification of the model in which “IS, 472 respondents, y reliable (alpha acceptable model IT governance” is split into “Executive Relationship Building” and “IT Management” provides better measures of fit. Both the original and the revised model demonstrate highly significant factor loadings (p = 0.000). The paper concludes that core capabilities of IT departments are useful constructs to incorporate in future research. They are able to successfully predict behaviours that have relatively little overlap. Recommended further research includes the relationship between capabilities and governance structures, as well as further investigation into how IT core capabilities are formed and strengthened in organisations.