Assefa, Temtim (PhD)Rahmeto, Abdlselam2019-09-232023-11-092019-09-232023-11-092017-12-02http://10.90.10.223:4000/handle/123456789/19161Information technology (IT) is changing the way companies organize their business processes, communicate with customers and deliver their services. An important condition for realizing potential benefits from the use of IT is the alignment between an organization‟s business strategy and processes, and its IT capabilities. However, IT and business alignment remains a top concern for IT and business executives. This research aims to assess the maturity level of Business-IT alignment (BITA) of commercial banks in Ethiopia through the utilization of Luftman's Strategic Alignment Maturity model (SAMM) as a framework. The researcher made use of the descriptive survey methodology to collect, analyze and interpret data relevant to the research objectives. Mixed method approach was employed in conducting this study, which was primarily used for triangulation purposes. To address the research questions of this study, two private and one publicly owned commercial banks were selected purposively. Accordingly, Commercial bank of Ethiopia, Dashen bank and Awash international bank were included in the study based on the selection criteria since they are commercial banks and pioneer in implementing information and communication technology infrastructure and IT solutions. Regarding target respondents, purposive sampling specifically expert sampling/Judgmental sampling was used to select seventy five senior IT and business expertise/managers to participate in the study. The study found that the overall average maturity of the banks IT-Business alignment is at Level2/Committed Process based on the Strategic alignment maturity model (SAMM) scale of Level1 (Initial/Ad hoc Process) to Level5 (Optimized Process). The study also identified that the factors „Scope & Architecture‟, 'Governance' and 'Partnership' have relatively high maturity level while the other factors 'Skills', 'Communication' and 'Competency' have relatively low maturity level. When comparing between private and publicly owned banks, the average maturity of IT-business alignment in the publicly owned bank is 2.46 where as in private banks are 2.49. The difference between the two categories of banks in factors 'Governance', 'Scope & Architecture' and 'Skills' were statistically significant. The result also revealed that commercial banks are investing huge amount of resource and concerning more in the implementation of new technologies and improving their IT infrastructures, as that was indicated by better level of maturity in the 'Scope & Architecture'. However, they gave less attention to develop the skill of their employees concerning on strategic alignment of IT and business. Especially in facilitating opportunities for cross functional training and job rotation which have a great role on the attainment of better alignment. Moreover the results of this research can help IT and business practitioners to further elaborate organizational skills training programs necessary for banks to improve their employees' performance throughout their journey towards BITA.enIT-Business AlignmentStrategic AlignmentIT-Business Alignment MaturityMaturity ModelStrategic Alignment Maturity ModelThesis