IS/IT leadership roles

Abstract

Information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) leadership roles have undergone fundamental changes over the past decade. This paper presents a literature review and results from a survey in Norway. The survey collected data on general leadership roles such as informational role, decisional role and interpersonal role, as well as on IS/IT leadership roles such as chief architect, change leader, product developer, technology provocateur, coach and chief operating strategist. Empirical analysis indicates that strategic responsibility as well as network stage of growth influence the extent of informational role, while the extent to which the chief executive uses IT influences the extent of decisional role, and the extent to which subordinates use IT influence the extent of interpersonal role. IS/IT managers with greater operating responsibility will be chief architects. The role of a change leader is positively influenced by the number of years in IT, the extent of lT use, the extent of strategic responsibility and the organization's revenue, while it is negatively influenced by the number of years in the current position. Product developer can be predicted by strategic responsibility and chief executive's IT use, while technology provocateur can be predicted by the extent of IT use coach can be predicted by the extent of subordinates' IT use, and chief operating strategist can be predicted by the extent of strategic responsibility.