Managerial IT Capabilities in the Upper Echelons: The Role of the Chief Information Officer

Abstract

Information technology (IT) is fundamentally transforming and challenging businesses across all industries, creating the need for managerial IT capabilities in the firm’s upper echelons to coordinate and drive strategic business value creation through IT. In this context, information systems research has extensively described the Chief Information Officer’s (CIO) role and responsibilities based on mostly qualitative studies. However, the contingencies affecting CIO presence in the firm’s upper echelons are still not well understood. Drawing on the IT capabilities perspective and the resource-based view of the firm, our study addresses this gap in research and argues that CIO presence in the firm’s upper echelons is contingent on the interplay of managerial IT capabilities and IT task demands. To test our hypotheses, we use a cross-industry panel of U.S. S&P 500 firms. We contribute to information systems and strategic management literature by extending research on managerial IT capabilities in the upper echelons, by validating contingencies of CIO presence identified in prior contributions, and by developing guidelines for practitioners on how to represent managerial IT capabilities in their upper echelons.