IT strategic alignment maturity and IT governance

Today, IT governance is common because the managers of organizations adopt structures and IT governance frameworks such as COBIT to guide and maintain their organizations business goals. Nevertheless, adopting a governance structure does not mean that the organization has effectively implemented a governance structure aligned with IT, keeping and improving the business. This article, deals with the effect and relation between Business/IT strategic alignment and IT governance (especially IT governance structures). The combination of strategic alignment and IT governance may be an effective strategic initiative allowing organizations to effectively utilize IT and achieve competitive advantage. However, decades of research did not focus on the effects of IT governance on alignment process. On the other hand, present article also examines the relation between the maturity levels of strategic alignment and IT governance. This study has been conducted using the data collected from 124 senior, middle and basic level executives in seven Iranian financial organizations and banks.