Mechanisms for the Development of Shared Mental Models between the CIO and the Top Management Team

Extant research has documented that the relationship between the chief information officer and the management team (TMT) has been troubled. An often cited contributing factor to this has been the gap in understanding between the CIO and the TMT. The objective of this study is to examine the development of shared mental models (SMMs) between the CIO and TMT about the role of information systems in the organization. A SMM is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct spanning the dimensions of shared language and shared understanding. The study posits that knowledge exchange mechanisms and relational similarity between the CIO and TMT are key antecedents to the development of SMMs. SMMs between the CIO and TMT are expected to guide the strategic orientation of the organization and may influence strategic alignment and organizational outcomes. The model was tested via a field survey of 382 CIOs using structural equation modeling. Results show that relational similarity and formal mechanisms of knowledge exchange (e.g., formal CIO membership in the TMT, CIO hierarchical level, and formal educational mechanisms by the CIO) are important to the development of SMMs. Contrary to expectations, social informal mechanisms of knowledge exchange and physical proximity were not significantly related to SMMs. Given the undeniable importance of developing a shared view of the role of IS in the organization by senior executives, such research has important theoretical and practical implications

The Effect of CIO Virtues on CIO Role Effectiveness

This paper aims to contribute to the concept of ethical CIO leadership through a distinctive focus on virtue ethics. Our research investigates the theoretical significance of CIO virtues on two CIO capabilities and their corresponding influence on the CIO’s role effectiveness in organizations. Contributions and implications of this work are discussed

Creating Business Value Through Information Technology: The Effects of Chief Information Officer and Top Management Team Characteristics

In this research, we examined the effects of (1) business-related and strategic IT-related knowledge of the chief information officer (CIO) and the top management team (TMT) and (2) engagements between the CIO and members of the top management team on firms’ success in using information technology (IT) to support their business strategies and value-chain activities. Using a cross-sectional field study of 169 companies, our research found that CIOs with high strategic IT and business-related knowledge enjoyed significantly greater participation in top management teams. Further, CIO’s strategic IT and business knowledge and their participation in top management teams influenced their firms’ extent of IT deployment in business strategies and value-chain activities. The strength of these relationships was most prominent where firms viewed information technology’s role as fundamentally transforming their business processes or industry structure. Further, interestingly, we found no direct impact of the top management team’s IT knowledge or reporting relationship of the CIO with the CEO on the firms’ extent of IT deployment

Leveraging IT for Business Innovation: Does the Role of the CIO Matter?

The evolving role of Information Technology (IT) in business innovation places increasing emphasis on the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Yet, the role of the CIO in business innovation is understudied in the extant literature. Drawing on organizational theory of boundary spanning leadership, we posit that the CIO’s cross-functional role pertaining to entities and functions outside the IT organization help explain the firm’s propensity for IT-enabled business innovation. Our large-sample empirical analysis of U.S. firms largely supports our theoretical propositions. We empirically find that IT-enabled business innovation is more likely when the CIO reports to the Chief Executive Officer, has more interactions with the firm’s customers and is more involved in new product development. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of the CIO in IT-enabled business innovation and provides implications for practice

Where have all the flowers gone?: a modular systems perspective of IT infrastructure design and productivity

Assessing value of IT infrastructure investments has been both difficult and ambiguous. This research develops and tests a conceptual framework to understand the productivity process. A lagged and recursive framework is used to trace the relationship between IT infrastructure investments, infrastructure design, and organizational productivity along with contingencies of IT management and the environment. A major contribution of this study is the use of the systems perspective to disaggregate the concepts of IT infrastructure and productivity into collectively exhaustive types. Findings reveal that IT investments do not significant affect productivity but do so when used to develop an IT infrastructure design. IT management is seen to strongly influence IT infrastructure design. Similarly, organizational environment appears to significantly influence the type of productivity focus for a firm. The study adds to the existing body of knowledge through a holistic investigation of the multi-level relationship between IT infrastructure configurations, contingencies, and productivity

Information Technology (IT) managers’ contribution to IT agility in organizations – views from the field

siirretty Doriast

The Influence Of Corporate Governance On Investor Reactions To Layoff Announcements

Researchers in strategy often use agency theory to explain problems arising from the separation of ownership and management in corporations. These so-called agency problems occur when managerial activities fail to maximize shareholder value. For example, managers might implement strategies that promote their own long-term interests rather than the interests of shareholders. Efforts to attenuate agency problems focus on adopting governance practices that seek closer alignment of share­holder and manager interests (Fama and Jensen, 1983). Agency theory proposes that the board of directors monitors managers and constrains implementation of inefficient strategies (Zahra and Pearce, 1989). Strategies ratified by the board that represent shareholder interests should be positively associated with shareholder value (Baysinger and Butler, 1985)