Leveraging CIO Power to Enhance the Relationship Between Social Alignment and IT-Business Strategic Alignment

Abstract

To give Information Technology (IT) a more central role in an organization and avoid disrupting the existing executive team power balance, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) should only leverage their power in certain situations. We propose CIOs can leverage their expert, prestige, and structural power attributes to influence the social–intellectual alignment relationship versus the social–operational alignment relationship in unique ways. Analyzing data collected from 140 CIOs, the results suggest IT knowledge strengthens the social-strategic alignment relationship, business knowledge and structural power weaken the social–intellectual alignment relationship, and prestige power has no impact on the social-strategic alignment relationship. Implications of these findings are discussed.