The Relationship Between Organisational Strategic IT Vision and CIO Roles: One Size Does Not Fit All

Abstract

The organisational strategic IT vision has been considered as a key contingency that affects the role of Information Technology (IT) leadership in organisations. Using the theoretical lens of the contingency approach to leadership, this study investigates the influence of strategic IT vision of an organisation on the Chief Information Officer (CIO) role and structural power. A large-scale survey was conducted with CIOs of Australian organizations. The results of the data analysis show that the Educator role of the CIO seems to be more important in organisations that articulated a ‘transform’ vision of IT compared to organisations that focus on IT for automation. The results also show that CIOs in organisations that strategically view IT as a transformation or informate-down orientation gave the role of Information Steward more attention than CIOs working in organisations where IT is viewed as a means to automate processes. The findings also show that there is significant positive association between the organisation’s strategic IT vision and the CIO’s structural power in terms of reporting structure and CIO job title. This study has implications for practitioners as the findings indicate the necessity for CIOs to align their roles with their firm’s IT vision and suggest that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) should empower their firm’s CIOs in terms of their reporting structure and job title as the role of IT in the organisation progresses from the lower strategic vision of IT (automate) to the highest vision (transform).