In Search of Explanations: Conceptualizing the Relationship between Service-oriented Architecture and Organizational Agility

Striving to survive in dynamic business environments, companies often aim to strengthen their organizational agility (OA) by making use of information systems (IS). While findings reported in pertinent literature regarding the relationship between IS and OA are inconclusive, many authors advocate service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a means to ultimately shape OA. However, research on this relationship lacks a systematic synthesis of explanatory results and theoretical contributions. To close this research gap, we synthesize literature in order to conceptualize the relationship between SOA and OA. The potential for establishing a definitive link between SOA and OA is limited because of the weak conceptualization of these two concepts in many studies and their merely association without providing any further explanation of their linkage. In addition to providing a conceptualization of the relationship between SOA and OA, we thus offer an agenda for future research to continue the search for explanations.