Does Entrepreneurial Strategy Influence Business-IT Alignment? Evidence from Saudi Arabia’s Start-Up Organizations
Waleed Saeed Afandi

Abstract
The role of entrepreneurial strategy in business-IT alignment formation and development of IT capabilities has only recently become a point of interest of organizational and information technology studies. This paper contributes to this this research area by investigating whether different types of strategy bring about distinct forms of IT-business alignment in startup firms. A survey of Saudi managers and IT specialists in such firms was conducted to test for differences in strength across six types of alignment defined within Strategic Alignment Model (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1999). The results of the study demonstrated statistically significant differences in five types of alignment based on a startup’s chosen strategy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and further research areas are suggested.

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