Organizational survival and alignment: Insights into conflicting perspectives on the role of the IT professional

Different organizational theories clearly define critical organizational activities necessary for organizational survival. Recent attention to "hybrid" research that links organizational theory with MIS research has been proposed to lend new insights into strategic alignment of IT (Orlikowski & Barley, 2000; Zrnud, 2002). One gap still to be addressed relates to role expectations and skills required by the IT professional according to different organizational theories. Much of the literature on strategic alignment of IT emphasizes the value provided by the IT artifact or focuses on communication between IT and business management, rather than on the role of IT professionals inferred by critical survival activities outlined in different organizational theories. Motivated by organizational concerns related to the clarity and articulation of the role of Information Technology professionals in contributing to strategic alignment, our study reviews literature about the role of the information technology professional and the differences according to three organizational theories: Agency theory, Transaction Cost theory and Institutional theory. We then use bibliometrics and content analysis to analyze published research for implicit or explicit skill expectations and contributions to organizational survival and strategic alignment of IT. The goal of our study is to contribute to a better understanding of role conflict, skill expectations, and value of information technology professionals in organizations, and also contribute to a consolidation between information systems research and organizational studies.