Identify Information Technology Research Articles

Identifying Information Technology (IT) and Cybersecurity Executives’ Competencies to Support Comprehensive Cybersecurity Programs

Information Technology (IT) and cybersecurity executives play a pivotal role in shaping the cybersecurity posture of an organization. Their ability to make informed decisions, allocate resources, and communicate effectively with cybersecurity professionals is paramount. Consequently, these executives must acquire the necessary competencies that encompass cybersecurity risk management, legal and regulatory compliance, and strategic planning combined with foundational business and technical competencies. An interdisciplinary approach bridging the gap between business, technical skills and strategic decision-making is crucial to navigate the ever-evolving and complex cybersecurity challenges facing organizations today. Failure to do so may result in catastrophic consequences for both individual enterprises and society. Further, the growing frequency and sophistication of cyber threats pose significant risks to organizations and individuals alike. To effectively counter these threats, it is imperative to not only develop cybersecurity talent but also to equip IT and cybersecurity executives with essential competencies in this domain. Equally important, is to identify the specific competencies and develop an approach to train or teach them. According to Burrell, Aridi, & Nobles (2018) there is an extremely urgent need of leadership development for cybersecurity and information technology professionals to prepare these professionals with the foundational skills to excel in leadership, management, and directing an enterprise-level program. This paper underscores the critical need for a comprehensive understanding of both Information Technology (IT) and cybersecurity executive competencies and cybersecurity executive development. Integrating these two aspects is critical to improve an organization’s cybersecurity posture and ensure alignment between organizational objectives and cybersecurity strategies. The two must work in tandem to create a robust and resilient cybersecurity infrastructure. This paper provides an analysis of the current literature regarding IT/Cybersecurity roles and responsibilities, leadership competencies, and technical competencies of IT/Cybersecurity executives to identify the gaps in existing research. The authors propose a survey instrument to conduct a quantitative analysis to identify executives’ beliefs as to how important it is to possess each administrative competency. The survey is part of a future research plan to identify and evaluate administrative and technical competencies of IT/Cybersecurity executive leaders.

Information technology drivers of supply chain agility: implications for market performance

The purpose of this study is to identify information technology (IT) drivers of supply chain agility (SCA) and examine their effects on the implementation levels of agile supply chains (SCs). It also explores the effect of SCA on market performance (MP). The study analyses survey data collected from 274 manufacturing companies from different industry types in Jordan. These types included machinery and hardware, electrical and electronics, rubber and plastic, chemical, food, textiles and others. Validity and reliability analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics and Amos, and the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results reveal that all IT drivers, namely, enterprise resource planning (ERP), radio frequency identification (RFID), cloud computing (CC) and Web 2.0 positively and significantly affect SCA. In addition, SCA proves to be positively and significantly related to MP.

Information technology drivers of supply chain agility: Implications for market performance

The purpose of this study is to identify information technology (IT) drivers of supply chain agility (SCA) and examine their effects on the implementation levels of agile supply chains (SCs). It also explores the effect of SCA on market performance (MP). The study analyses survey data collected from 274 manufacturing companies from different industry types in Jordan. These types included machinery and hardware, electrical and electronics, rubber and plastic, chemical, food, textiles and others. Validity and reliability analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics and Amos, and the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results reveal that all IT drivers, namely, enterprise resource planning (ERP), radio frequency identification (RFID), cloud computing (CC) and Web 2.0 positively and significantly affect SCA. In addition, SCA proves to be positively and significantly related to MP.

An Examination of the Role of Military Medical Chief Information Officer

Although research has described the roles, responsibilities, and skills of effective chief information officers (CIOs) in for-profit organizations, little is known regarding the traits and skills that characterize effective military medical CIOs. This study identifies skills a military medical CIO needs to act as a technology strategist who can successfully identify information technology (IT) innovations and convert those innovations into organizational health IT solutions. We assessed the level of necessary informational, decisional, and interpersonal skills in a cross-sectional survey of 48 military medical CIOs. We also compared military medical CIO characteristics to general CIO characteristics. Our results show that both decisional and interpersonal skills are strongly related to informational skills necessary to convert innovations into organizational IT solutions. Further, decisional skills are strongly related to a CIO's ability to act as a technology strategist. Our study provides implications for research and practice.

Information technology and the Internet: The Singapore experience

Singapore, a small nation with limited resources, has in three decades transformed itself from a British colony to one of the seven Asian economic tigers registering high economic growth. The borderless world of cyberspace has spawn a new digital global economy. To spur Singapore on to new economic growth, the government has identified information technology (IT) as the strategic tool. This paper presents the IT experience of Singapore in the 1980s and the latest IT plan (IT2000) for the 1990s and beyond to build a national information infrastructure (NII) to ensure Singapore's continuous growth in the future. The initiatives and incentives taken by the government to promote the use of the NII and snapshots of the progress of the NII deployment to date are discussed. In particular, the paper focuses on the evolution of Internet in Singapore; it highlights its phenomenal growth and how this growth has spurred the development of an Internet infrastructure, Internet services and applications, and Internet‐related policies. Internet has become an integral part and a key component of the NII and is hailed as the de facto mechanism for making the services of the NII available to the masses. It has accelerated the Nil's development and deployment, despite the fact that it was never in the blueprint of IT2000. The paper concludes by examining the challenges faced in fulfilling the IT2000 vision and how Singapore can overcome the obstacles. With the strong IT infrastructure laid and the government's continuous support and commitment to IT development, it is well poised to harness existing and new technologies and effectively deploy them for economic growth and realisation of the IT2000 vision.