Factors for Fractional CIO engagement success

As small- to medium-sized enterprises struggle with IT management, an increasing number appoint Fractional CIOs, i.e., CIOs that work part-time for multiple organizations simultaneously. We use Q-methodology to empirically evaluate the relative importance of factors for Fractional CIO engagement success and find that trust, top management team support, and the Fractional CIO's integrity are most important. Further, we identify three groups of Fractional CIOs: Strategic IT Advisors, Full-ownership CIOs, and Change Agents. Our results guide organizations when hiring and working with Fractional CIOs and provide the basis for further research on Fractional CIO archetypes.     

CIO influence behaviors: the impact of technical background

In their roles as senior managers, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are often responsible for the initiation and implementation of information systems (ISs) that are vital to the success, and even survival of the firm. In so doing, CIOs must exercise influence successfully in order to attain these objectives. This study reports a two-phase investigation of CIO influence behaviors, with particular emphasis on the relationship between the CIO’s technical background and his or her use of influence. In the first phase, interviews were conducted with CIOs and their peers to assist in the development of testable hypotheses. Phase two involved the analysis of 69 matched pair surveys and tests of the relationships between CIOs’ technical backgrounds and seven CIO influence behaviors, as posited by socialization theory. The second phase’s results were not supportive of socialization theory. A modified version of Holland’s theory of vocational choice suggests a plausible explanation for the results. The findings challenge the popular assumption that CIOs with greater technical backgrounds are unable to successfully influence other top executives.     

The CIO stereotype: Content,bias, and impact

The current work examines whether there is a stereotype of CIOs that can influence decisions about their role in organizations. We find evidence for a CIO stereotype informed by both an IT stereotype and a general leader stereotype, although CIOs are perceived to have more in common with IT personnel than leaders. Two experiments showed that the CIO stereotype was capable of biasing perceptions of CIOs’ suitability to occupy strategic roles (i.e., a “glass ceiling” effect) and the extent to which they are blamed for negative outcomes (i.e., a “glass cliff” effect). These findings point to the challenges CIOs face in gaining and maintaining strategic leadership roles in organizations.     

IT leadership from a problem solving perspective

Information Technology (IT) leadership is a domain in need of investigation and development. Here, we present a general model for problem solving leadership and describe our application of that model to IT organizations, with special attention to the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). We tested the real-world value of this model through intensive interviews with 26 senior IT executives of major organizations, from which we identified four key leadership challenges facing CIOs today: (1) bridging cognitive gaps; (2) building and managing problem solving diversity; (3) shifting focus to process; and (4) solving problems and managing change. Integrating problem solving concepts with insights gained from the interviews, we offer practical approaches for aligning IT with business objectives, transforming the image of IT, and managing change, among other recommendations.     

An examination of the antecedents and consequences of organizational IT innovation in hospitals

The healthcare industry is widely recognized as information-intensive and IT is considered to be an intrinsic component of the success of healthcare organizations such as hospitals. While both researchers and practitioners have argued that hospitals should aspire to be IT innovators, most tend to be IT laggards. An understanding of the factors that drive hospitals to become IT innovators remains an important phenomenon of interest. However, there is a lack of theory-driven empirical research that systematically investigates the factors that influence a hospital’s strategic choice to be an IT innovator and the influence of IT innovation on hospital performance. This study bridges the extant gaps in the literature by developing and testing an integrated model that seeks to understand why certain hospitals are IT innovators. Using IT innovation theory as our theoretical foundation, we examine three antecedents, including the chief information officer (CIO) strategic leadership, the top management team’s (TMT) attitude toward IT, and the hospital’s climate. Further, we examine the influence of IT innovation on the impact of IT within the hospital and the influence of IT impact on the hospital’s financial performance. The research model was tested using both survey and archival data from 70 matched pairs of hospital CIOs and executives. The quantitative analysis is supplemented with by interviews with 10 participating CIOs to further examine the relationship of the CIO to hospital IT innovation. The results suggest that the CIO strategic leadership and the TMT’s attitude toward IT are key factors that influence IT innovation; however, the influence of a hospital’s climate on organizational IT innovation is contingent upon the CIO’s level of strategic leadership. The results also suggest that hospitals that are IT innovators can generate greater impact from IT, which in turn results in greater performance for the hospital. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are discussed.     

Innovative IT climates: CIO perspectives

In many organizations the CIO is a key driver of business innovation. This research investigates innovative CIOs in the context of their organizational climate theory. We explore the concept of innovative IT climates through qualitative analyses of interviews with 36 innovative CIO's. We identify and characterize four dimensions of innovative IT climates using a theoretical model based on the climate literature. Inductive grounded-theoretic methods are then utilized to develop two additional dimensions of innovative IT climates - reality-checking and promoting credibility. Findings expand our theoretical and empirical understanding of innovative IT climates and provide practitioners with specific examples of how CIO's are actively working to create innovative IT climates.     

Technology executives in the changing accounting information environment: Impact of IFRS adoption on CIO compensation

Accounting regulatory changes that affect the information technology (IT) infrastructure of firms have prompted Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to take the lead in aligning IT changes with new reporting requirements. This study investigates the associations between the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and CIO compensation. We find a significant increase in CIO compensation in the post-IFRS period, which is higher in non-IT firms than in IT firms. Moreover, pay is at a premium for CIOs equipped with more educational background in business. We discuss the implications of our study and offer suggestions for future research.     

A survey on CIO concerns-do enterprise architecture frameworks support them?

The challenge of IT management is today considerable. In industry, the organizational role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been promoted as the owner of these challenges. In spite of a general acceptance of the problems associated with the responsibilities of the CIO, very little academic research has been conducted on the issues and constraints of this role. In order to address these shortcomings, this article presents the results of a survey in which Swedish CIOs have prioritized their most important concerns. In academia, a response to the IT system management challenges has presented itself in the discipline of Enterprise Architecture. The article argues that the CIO role is the primary stakeholder of Enterprise Architecture, so his/her need for decision support should guide Enterprise Architecture research and framework development. Therefore, the article presents a brief review over how well two existing Enterprise Architecture frameworks address the surveyed concerns of the CIO. Results from the survey indicate that the three highest prioritized concerns of CIOs are to decrease the cost related to the business organization, to improve the quality of the interplay between the IT organization and the business organization and to provide new computer-aided support to the business organization. The comparison between the CIOs' prioritization and the foci of the frameworks shows some discrepancies. The largest disharmony lies in the lack of decision support for issues related to the IT organization. Furthermore, support for explicitly estimating and managing costs is lacking within the frameworks.     

The Impact of Communication between CEOs and CIOs on their Shared Views of the Current and Future Role of IT

This research compares the views of CEOs and CIOs in the same organizations about the relative richness of four communications media (face-to-face, e-mail, business memo, telephone), and the current and future roles of IT in their organizations. Overall, CEOs are found to be more optimistic about the expected impacts of future IT projects. Organizations in which there was greater shared vision about the future role of IT also reported more frequent CEO/CIO communications utilizing communications channels perceived to be richer: face-to-face and e-mail.     

Investigating the effects of IS strategic leadership on organizational benefits from the perspective of CIO strategic roles

In this study, the effects of IS strategic leadership on organizational outcomes are examined from the perspective of CIO strategic roles. A field survey is conducted that collects data from 110 matched pairs of CIOs and business executives within organizations. Our findings suggest that strategic leadership significantly affects both organizational benefits and information system quality. Further, we found that IS quality significantly mediates the relationship between IS strategic leadership and organizational benefits. We also note that IS vision significantly moderates the relationship between IS strategic leadership and IS quality, although it does not moderate the relationship between IS strategic leadership and organizational benefits or the relationship between IS quality and organizational benefits.     

IT management capability and its impact on the performance of a CIO

Viewed from the perspective of the activity competency model (ACM) and prior theoretical works, we developed a conceptual framework for investigating the capability of IT management personnel and its impact on the performance of a CIO. A scale for measuring a CIO's effectiveness and management capability was developed and validated. A partial least squares method was used to test the conceptual model empirically and hypotheses were tested through data collected in a large-scale survey. The results supported the proposed framework, and confirmed our hypotheses that both IT and managerial competencies have positive significant impact on the effectiveness of a CIO. We also found that his or her IT management capability significantly impacted the CIO's performance. Our findings are likely to be of particular value to those concerned with IT management training and competency development for CIOs.     

Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste

Right now CEOs and board members are under the microscope. The typical CIO, usually struggling for higher visibility and true C-level status, is now in the enviable position of being just outside the scope of C-level witch hunts. At present, the CIO is a functionary—the plumber-in-chief! Previously, we would have cringed at these characterizations, but when there are water shortages, the plumber has great power. The authors describe the new role CIOs will increasingly find themselves in and how to navigate it.     

CEO/CIO mutual understanding,strategic alignment,and the contribution of IS to the organization

Mutual understanding between the CEO and CIO is thought to facilitate the alignment of an organization's IS with its business strategy, and thereby enhance the contribution of the IS to business performance. A survey of 202 pairs of CEOs and CIOs was taken to investigate the relationships between them. Mutual understanding was measured as the role of IS in the organization, using the perspectives of both executives. Strategic alignment was measured as the fit between the CEO's assessment of eight STROBE dimensions and the CIO's assessment of the analogous STROEPIS dimensions; both the CEO and CIO evaluated IS contribution. Mutual understanding of the role of IT led to seven alignment dimensions whereas six alignment dimensions led to IS contributions. Our study extended the theory of IT strategic alignment and provided direction for CEOs and CIOs interested in improving the IS contribution of their organization.     

Cio on Center Stage: 9/11 Changes Everything

The role of the chief information officer has changed substantially since the events of September 11, the CIO to work in a way different from before. CIOs must immediately do several things. These include:showing a bias for action, conducting a scenario planning exercise, conducting a risk analysis, fast tracking tactical implementation, and, above all, communicating.     

The who, what, why, where, and when of IT outsourcing

Outsourcing of IT functions has become so pervasive that IT managers and CIOs cannot ignore it. To complicate the matter, outsourcing to other countries has become increasingly popular. The advantages of this type of outsourcing include cost savings, 24/7 operation, and access to highly specialized skills. Yet a strategic alliance with a geographically and culturally remote partner presents its own unique challenges. Thus, IT professionals should not take the strategic questions of whether or not to outsource lightly, or avoid it. Rather, they can make such a decision by analyzing the responses to the following five key questions, what we call the five Ws: Who should outsource? What is outsourcing? Why outsource? Where should you outsource? When should you outsource? This article emerged from a focus group of CIOs conducted by the CIO Institute, a not-for-profit community of practice for CIOs in the Greater Philadelphia region.     

Can Political Skill Enhance Business and IT Knowledge?

ABSTRACT

We examine whether Chief Information Officers’ (CIOs’) political skill enhances their IT and business knowledge as a means of influencing executive teams’ commitment to strategic and operational IT initiatives. We empirically examine these relationships using data collected from 139 CIOs. The results suggest CIOs’ business and IT knowledge is significantly related to influencing executive team commitment to strategic and operational IT initiatives, but political skill only enhances business knowledge for influencing executive team commitment to operational IT initiatives.     

Passing the Baton: Helping Your Successor to Succeed

When most CIOs transition from one information technology group to that of another company, they seldom think about what happens to their old group once they leave. Instead, the outgoing CIO begins focusing on the challenges of the new situation. A true act of leadership, however, is to consider how to help one's replacement to hit the ground running.     

Beyond Leaders and Followers: Understanding Participation Dynamics in Event-Based Social Networks

ABSTRACT

Understanding user behaviors and social relations in social media has been an important topic in Human-Computer Interaction research. In this paper, we look at an emerging form of social media, Event-based Social Networks (EBSNs), which support a special type of hybrid community where people are connected online to organize themselves for offline gatherings. EBSN users are labeled as either organizers or members on existing platforms, and their behavioral and relationship patterns in offline events have not been described systematically. To understand participation dynamics in EBSNs, we present an interview study with 12 Meetup users and categorize a variety of social roles beyond organizers and members. We identify that different types of organizers, classical leaders and delegated leaders, have different relationship patterns with various types of members, including active contributors, active followers, newcomers and occasional visitors. By comparing these roles with purely offline or online communities, we discuss how participation dynamics in EBSNs reflect the intertwined impacts of hybrid community and implications of our findings for technology designs.     

Effectiveness of gamification in the engagement of students

This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification platforms as a strategy for the engagement of students from the 8th year of elementary school in Brazil. We chose two badging platforms – ClassDojo and ClassBadges – to be evaluated based on 7 different criteria. The main objectives were to generate involvement among individual and particular situations, increasing the interest, engagement and efficiency while performing a specific task. We observed the behavior of 61 students from an elementary public school in Brazil as part of our field research. Data were collected using observation, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Quantitative data were statistically analyzed using a multivariate technique known as cluster analysis. The results allowed us to classify students in 4 distinct groups and showed that students who received more rewards from the teacher got significantly better average performances.     

Linking information systems and entrepreneurship: A review and agenda for IT‐associated and digital entrepreneurship research

More than 50 years ago, information technology (IT) began to change society, the economy, and industries worldwide. This change has included waves of technological disruption that have been exploited by entrepreneurial actors who seize the associated new opportunities. Research on related phenomena is spread across different disciplines. Recently, there have been calls for further research on the marriage of information systems (IS) and entrepreneurship. We review 292 articles in the IS, entrepreneurship, and general and strategic management literature to create an overview of the IT‐associated entrepreneurship research landscape. On the basis of that review, we elaborate on the different roles that IT can assume to support entrepreneurial operations and value creation in these settings. Our findings suggest that IT plays four major roles in entrepreneurial operations: as a facilitator, making the operations of start‐ups easier; as a mediator for new ventures' operations; as an outcome of entrepreneurial operations; and as a ubiquity, becoming the business model itself. Leveraging these roles of IT, we develop a set of definitions to clear up definition uncertainties surrounding IT‐associated new ventures such as digital start‐ups and digital business models. We also outline a research agenda for IT‐associated entrepreneurship research based on identified roles, types, and gaps.