Empirical evidence of is executives' awareness of organizational strategy

One theme of current interest in Strategic Information Systems Planning is the alignment of IS strategic objectives with those of the organization. Empirical studies in the late 1980's concluded that this alignment was not satisfactory because IS executives often had difficulties to understand their top management's strategic business objectives. The present study finds a significant change in this situation. Statistical tests of a matched sample of IS and top executives' responses indicate no significant differences between top management's and IS managers' understanding of organizational strategy. Further, results of a sample of personal interview responses indicate that IS managers today not only understand their organization's strategic objectives, but, in some cases, actually drive the formulation of business strategy.