Research into Business-IT alignment: Toward a cognitive perspective

Contemporary empirical research into business-IT alignment is almost entirely behavioral in focus. They explore the alignment issue by examining the way organizations conduct themselves. In contrast, few studies have attempted to investigate the issue from a cognitive perspective. Managerial cognition is an area of growing interest and importance in strategic management. This paper proposes a framework to guide research into business-IT alignment through a cognitive lens. It also considers some of the cognitive theories and methodologies that may be appropriate for the study of alignment.