An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Middle Managers’ Lived Experiences In Contribution To Strategic Alignment At A Public University

This study draws attention to less studied areas of middle management role in business strategy formulation, information strategy formulation, and their alignment in developing countries. It was conducted as a case study at a public university in Malawi using in-depth interviews and document analysis. Middle managers were purposefully selected from the information systems department and other business units. The interviews were conducted online using Microsoft Forms and transcribed data was analysed using interpretive thematic analysis. The findings show that middle managers participate in the formulation of business strategies for their business units as well in the alignment of those strategies with information strategy for the university. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the antecedents to alignment that Luftman identified are not sufficient to account for factors that the middle managers cited affecting alignment. These are the roles of the procurement function, the government of Malawi, and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and UNICEF.