›› 2015, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (12): 180-191.

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E-business Strategic Alignment and Collaborative E-business Capability:The Mediation Test of Formal Governance

Chi Maomao1,2, Zhao Jing2, Huang Jiao2   

  1. 1. School of Information Management, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079;
    2. College of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074
  • Received:2014-01-09 Online:2015-12-30 Published:2015-12-25

Abstract:

As the digital technologies (e.g., big data and cloud) become pervasive nowadays, the competing relationship among firms transfers to the alliance, supply chain, and industry ecosystem. Therefore, how to capture the collaborative e-business capability has become a hot topic for both researchers and managers. Based on IT/IS strategic alignment, IOIS, and governance, this paper proposes the model of e-business strategic alignment, formal governance, and e-collaborative capabilities, which describes the appropriate value process for this alignment. This model is tested using survey data from a sample of 213 manufacturing firms. The results provide strong support for the proposed research model. In particular, we find that (1) e-business strategic alignment is the enabler of collaborative e-business capability; (2) formal governance is the mediator in the relationship between e-business alignment and collaborative e-business capability; (3) the longevity of collaboration time has a positive moderated effect on the relationship between formal governance and knowledge sharing capability. Our research extends IT/IS alignment literature, and theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.

Key words: e-business strategic alignment, collaborative e-business capability, formal governance