Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology, Vol. 44, No. 1, February 2012 43 Comparing Strategic IT Alignment versus Process IT Alignment in SMEs Alejandro Cataldo Department of Computer Sciences Universidad de Atacama Av. Copayapu 485, Copiapo, Chile alejandro.cataldo@uda.cl Robert J. McQueen Department of Management Systems, University of Waikato Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand bmcqueen@waikato.ac.nz Jens Hardings Department of Computer Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Vicuña Mackenna 4860 (143), Macul, Santiago, Chile jhp@ing.puc.cl Manuscript received: 6 April 2011 Communicating Editor: Colin Fidge Copyright© 2012, Australian Computer Society Inc. General permission to republish, but not for profit, all or part of this material is granted, provided that the JRPIT copyright notice is given and that reference is made to the publication, to its date of issue, and to the fact that reprinting privileges were granted by permission of the Australian Computer Society Inc. INTRODUCTION Understanding the information technology (IT) alignment in companies has produced a large number of studies. However, it must be noted that these investigations have been characterized by two major biases: a focus on the study of strategic alignment to the detriment of other forms of Recently researchers have begun to suggest that the study of IT alignment in SMEs should be based on organizational processes rather than on strategy. This research investigated both approaches in a comparative exploratory study of 38 SMEs in Chile and Colombia. Regression was used to compare both types of alignment against IT success. The findings did not show significant differences between strategic IT alignment and process- level alignment although the strategic alignment approach better explained the variability of IT success (35.8%) than the process approach (18.7%). This contradicts the findings of recent research which has suggested that alignment models based on SME processes better explain IT success than models based on the company’s strategy. Unexpectedly we also found that there was a very high correlation between both types of alignment (0.810). Results showed that strategic alignment could impact the relationship between Process-level alignment and IT success. Our conclusion is that in spite of the fact that few SMEs are involved with extensive and formal long-term planning, there often seems to be an implicit SME strategy that shapes the way that IT is used on processes. Despite the exploratory nature of this study, the unexpected findings may encourage other researchers to validate and deepen the understanding of our conclusions. Keywords: Strategic IT alignment, Process IT alignment, SMEs, IT Success ACM Classification: K.6.1 (Project and People Management – Strategic information systems planning)