IT Governance Theories and the Reality of SMEs: Bridging the Gap

The need to effectively manage IT resources such that they enhance the business value of firms makes IT governance (ITG) an important issue for both IS researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to build a conceptual framework for ITG in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We first analyze the main theories applied in ITG research, and confront them with the specificities of SMEs. We then highlight the limits of those theories in SMEs context and discuss adaptations needed or alternative theories in such context. The resulting framework is then applied to generate a set of six research propositions on ITG in SMEs.