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
