The Role of the CIOs on the IT Management and Firms’ Performance: Evidence in the Italian Context

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the ways in which skills and personal features of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) could affect the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementation and management in the Italian context. Furthermore, we attempt to analyze how the different ways of ERP implementation and management could contribute to improve the firms’ performance. Prior studies demonstrated the link between the adoption of an IT (Information Technology) and the financial and non-financial performance ratios of a firm. Even if scholars found controversial results about it, they all seem to agree that deeper and more positive improvements related to an ERP adoption could be introduced only after a certain lag of years. Recent literature about this topic also highlights that the CIOs’ role with his/her features, such as background, managerial competencies, technical skills are essential factors in obtaining positive economic returns for IT investment and in improving the overall firms’ performance. Despite these considerations, it has not still been paid enough attention to the recent and evolving role of the CIOs’ personal features and how the different ways of ERP implementation and management could contribute to improve the firms’ performance. In order to reach our main aim, we carry out 10 in-depth pilot interviews to Italian CIOs to elicit early qualitative feedback and we send the survey questions to the CIOs who are willing to have collaboration with our research project. The survey has the main aim to test research items identified from the pilot interviews, in an exploratory and subjective viewpoint. Results contribute to the theoretical and practical definition of the relevant profiles attributable to CIOs and the impacts of each profile to firms’ performance.