Balancing structural IT capabilities for organizational agility in digital transformation: a resource orchestration view

Abstract

PurposeTo achieve digital transformation, organizations have continued to rely on integrating the capabilities of information technology (IT) to facilitate decision-making and developing their reconfiguration capability to enhance agile operations. The pressure imposed by digital transformation necessitates investigations on leveraging different IT capabilities to attain substantial organizational agility in an optimal configuration. This study aims to provide a new perspective on balancing IT structural capabilities and proposes a framework for evaluating their coalignment and complementary returns based on resource orchestration theory.Design/methodology/approachA multi-method approach is used to evaluate the research model. This study tests hypotheses and explores the potential coalignment and complementary returns of balance in structural models and response surface analysis. Then, it analyzes the qualitative data and provides complementary findings to corroborate and confirm complex relationships.FindingsBalanced structural IT capabilities facilitate organizational agility but cooperate differently with internal (e.g. IT proactive stance) and external (e.g. environmental volatility) environmental factors. Balance between IT integration and reconfiguration must be maintained from several approaches during search/selection and configuration/deployment.Originality/valueThis study theorizes and empirically investigates the interactive mechanisms of two IT capabilities in influencing organizational agility under different boundary conditions. It enriches the understanding of balancing capabilities for organizational agility in digital transformation.