Artificial Intelligence for the Financial Services Industry: What Challenges Organizations to Succeed?

As a research field, artificial intelligence (AI) exists for several years. More recently, technological breakthroughs, coupled with the fast availability of data, have brought AI closer to commercial use. Internet giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple or Facebook invest significantly into AI, thereby underlining its relevance for business models worldwide. For the highly data driven finance industry, AI is of intensive interest within pilot projects, still, few AI applications have been implemented so far. This study analyzes drivers and inhibitors of a successful AI application in the finance industry based on panel data comprising 22 semi-structured interviews with experts in AI in finance. As theoretical lens, we structured our results using the TOE framework. Guidelines for applying AI successfully reveal AI-specific role models and process competencies as crucial, before trained algorithms will have reached a quality level on which AI applications will operate without human intervention and moral concerns

25 Years of CIO and IT Leadership – Revisiting Managerial Roles in Information Systems Research

Knowledge-intensive organizations are challenged by the digitization of business models and the need for IT knowledge throughout entire organizations. This changes the role of CIOs from a central IT leader towards a digitization ambassador for the whole organization. In this research, we develop and validate a multidimensional IT leadership roles construct, theoretically grounded on Mintzberg’s managerial roles. We empirically evolve the construct based on a quantitative survey among 228 CIOs in the U.S., where we assess the management roles of prior information systems research. Based on the empirical analysis, we add a new role definition. The result is an updated, comprehensive, and modernized IT leadership construct, taking the role of the CIO not only as IT leader, but as central agency for developing a digital mindset in the top management team but also throughout the whole organization. Thus, we contribute to 25 years of information systems research in that field

Time for Climate Change: Leadership, IT Climate, and their Impact on Organizational Performance

Information systems (IS) have become essential for operating firms successfully. How to align business and information technology (IT) executives to in-crease organizational output has been widely dis-cussed in literature. This research focusses on pre-requisites and consequences of a positive IT climate in organizations where the need for deep IT and business knowledge is constantly increasing. We shed light on how organizational leaders, both from business and IT, influence a positive organizational IT climate by IT leadership and subsequently, how an organizational IT climate affects strategic align-ment and firm performance. By applying a two steps approach, this study evaluates the results of a survey among 322 IT decision makers in the U.S. working in knowledge-intensive and less-knowledge intensive industries. Our findings illustrate that IT leadership and IT climate differ between the two groups, and can confirm organization wide firm IS knowledge as a strategically important resource to achieve organ-izational performance

You'll Be Surprised - Digital Business Strategy as Driver of Organizational Innovativeness

The presence of digital infrastructures fundamentally changes market conditions, business and IT strategy, and consequently organizational structures. This research investigates how the concept of a digital business strategy leads to increased organizational innovativeness and firm performance. We demonstrate how IT capabilities contribute to organizational innovativeness and induce the CIO’s positive role for IT-enabled business innovation. By means of an online survey among 228 IT decision makers in knowledge-intensive industries in the U.S., the results reveal organizational innovativeness being significantly higher influenced by the IT knowledge of business employees in organizations giving the digital business strategy high importance, whereas the top management team IT knowledge plays a greater role when digital business strategy is given low priority. By this research, we deliver first results of consequences for organizations conducting a digital business strategy and contribute to the discussion on IT-enabled innovation, CIO leadership, and the increasing relevance of organization-wide IT capabilities

We've got the power - the relevance of IT leadership and organizational IT capabilities in the fully digitized business era

Modern information technologies allow for an ever increasing digitization of business processes in various industries around the globe. This requires an organization-wide digital mindset and IT capabilities to react agile in turbulent business environments. Which enabling role CIOs have to develop IT capabilities as necessary predecessor to develop organization-wide strategic IT alignment is still unclear. How strategic IT alignment as means to react to rapid market changes can be achieved as consequence of organization-wide capabilities has not been answered yet. In this research, we capture individual and organizational factors characterizing the CIO position and combine them with two preliminary stages of IT competencies, IT infrastructure and IT capabilities, in a single nomological net to identify their influence on strategic IT alignment. Evaluating the results by means of a broad sample collected within a survey among 141 IT-decision makers in the U.S., our partial least squares analysis supports most of our hypotheses, notably verifying the influence of CIOs on organizational structures and strategic IT alignment, therefore fully mediated by IT capabilities. Building on Mintzberg, we propose strengthening the CIO leadership position furthermore throughout the entire organization to cope with the challenges arising from the ongoing digitization of business processes

Datafication of Knowledge Work: A Framework and Research Agenda

Datafication is moving into the center of value creation in the knowledge intensive organization. Datafication describes the transformation of qualitative behavior and tacit knowledge into quantified actions and codified data. While traditional assumptions on knowledge work highlights individual autonomy in shaping job tasks and fitting abilities for productive work, the consequences of datafication for knowledge work are not yet well understood. We build on the contingency theory of performance as theoretical lens to derive a framework that addresses relevant future research questions in the evolving field of datafication in knowledge work. The proposed multi-level framework considers assumptions and elements from traditional productive knowledge work in combination with determinants of digital workplaces and organizational factors along the lines of data-based value creation and (semi-)automated decision making. For the future, we suggest viewing datafied knowledge work as a socio-technical phenomenon, thereby constituted of human-dominated knowledge work in convergence with technological-dominated algorithmic thinking

Decentralized Service: An Initiation of Blockchain Value Creation into Service Science

How value is created through service has recently undergone massive changes. Centralized service provision with clear distinctions between service offerers and beneficiaries is increasingly superseded by value creation within decentralized networks of distributed actors integrating digital resources equally. One of the drivers of this transformation is blockchain technology. Applying the lens of service-dominant logic and discussing examples of blockchain-based decentralized finance, we shed light on how properties of decentralized technology stimulate value creation in service ecosystems. With this conceptual research, we postulate five propositions of decentralized value creation along the axiomatic foundations of the service-dominant logic. We provide first definitions for decentralized service as well as decentralized service ecosystems. Thereby, we contribute with an extension of the service-dominant logic to the context of decentralized ecosystems. To our knowledge, this research is among the first to add to the growing literature on blockchain value creation from a service science perspective

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Work: The Sociotechnical Reversal

A well-designed information system (IS) in the classical view comprises two interrelated yet different subsystems; one that represents the technological dimension of work; and one that represents the social dimension. When these subsystems are heralded as equally important, they constitute a sociotechnical whole, producing economic outcomes such as profit and efficiency, plus humanistic outcomes, such as engagement and well-being. We see, increasingly, this classical view becoming obliviated. In this conceptual paper, we reflect upon the role of humans and technology in these changing work environments. While technical aspects from Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies are dominating the social side of work, we suggest a sociotechnical reversal to happen. Whereas this technosocial reality might be well motivated by advances in efficiency and productivity, the effects on well-being and engagement are less well understood. Consequently, we provide a set of theoretically derived principles to guide these changes in the digital workplace