Despite numerous testimonials of first movers, the underlying mechanisms of organizations' big data analytics (BDA) usage deserves close investigation. Our study addresses two essential research questions: (1) How does organizational BDA usage affect value creation? and (2) What are key antecedents of organizational-level BDA usage? We draw on dynamic capabilities theory to conceptualize BDA use as a unique information processing capability that brings competitive advantage to organizations. Furthermore, we employ the technologyÐorganizationÐenvironment (TOE) framework to identify and theorize paths via which factors influence the actual usage of BDA. Survey data collected from 161 U.S.-based companies show that: organizational-level BDA usage affects organizational value creation; the degree to which BDA usage influences such creation is moderated by environmental dynamism; technological factors directly influence organizational BDA usage; and organizational and environmental factors indirectly influence organizational BDA usage through top management support. Collectively, these findings provide a theory-based understanding of the impacts and antecedents of organizational BDA usage, while also providing guidance regarding what managers should expect from usage of this rapidly emerging technology. > >
The paper empirically examines the effects of social capital of the relationship between the chief information officer (CIO) and top management team (TMT) on organizational value creation based on responses from CIOs and matched TMT respondents from 81 hospitals in the United States. Specifically, we theorize how the three dimensions of social capital-structural, cognitive, and relational social capital-facilitate knowledge exchange and combination between the CIO and TMT resulting in the alignment between the organization's information systems (IS) strategy and business strategy. Results show that IS alignment significantly influences the firm's financial performance and mediates the relationship between CIO-TMT social capital and performance. The findings also indicate that cognitive and relational social capital influence information systems strategic alignment but that structural social capital exerts its influence through its effects on cognitive social capital. Recommendations are provided as to how organizations can develop CIO-TMT structural, cognitive, and relational social capital to positively influence firm performance via IS strategic alignment.
The article presents a study of chief information officers (CIOs), which focuses on changes in the position's leadership role from a supply-oriented to demand-oriented model. The trend toward information technology (IT) as a commodity which can be outsourced has led to CIOs becoming more involved in business strategy planning at the senior executive level. A staged maturity model of the CIO role is presented as a means of analyzing this transition, from IT as an operations-oriented support function to the strategic deployment of IT to achieve a competitive advantage. Matched CIO responses from over 150 corporations were used to identify aspects of this process, such as human capital, CIO structural power, and organizational support for IT.
Information systems strategy is of central importance to IS practice and research. Our extensive review of the literature suggests that the concept of IS strategy is a term that is used readily; however, it is also a term that is not fully understood. In this study, we follow a perspective paradigm based on the strategic management literature to define IS strategy as an organizational perspective on the investment in, deployment, use, and management of IS. Through a systematic literature search, we identify the following three conceptions of IS strategy employed implicitly in 48 articles published in leading IS journals that focus on the construct of IS strategy: (1) IS strategy as the use of IS to support business strategy; (2) IS strategy as the master plan of the IS function; and (3) IS strategy as the shared view of the IS role within the organization. We find the third conception best fits our definition of IS strategy. As such, we consequently propose to operationalize IS strategy as the degree to which the organization has a shared perspective to seek innovation through IS. Specifically, our proposed IS strategic typology suggests an organization's IS strategy falls into one of the two defined categories (i.e., IS innovator or IS conservative) or is simply undefined. We also develop measures for this new typology. We argue that the proposed instrument, which was cross-validated across both chief information officers and senior business executives, has the potential to serve as a diagnostic tool through which the organization can directly assess its IS strategy. We contend that our reconceptualization and operationalization of IS strategy provides theoretical and practical implications that advance the current level of understanding of IS strategy from extant studies within three predominant literature streams: strategic IS planning, IS/business strategic alignment, and competitive use of IS.
Alignment of information systems (IS) strategy with business strategy is a top concern of both the chief information officer (CIO) and the top management team (TMT) of organizations. Even though researchers and key decision makers in organizations recognize the importance of IS strategic alignment, they often struggle to understand how this alignment is created. In this paper, we develop a nomological network in which shared understanding between the CIO and TMT about the role of IS in the organization (which represents the social dimension of IS strategic alignment) is posited to be a proximal antecedent of the intellectual dimension of IS strategic alignment. We further posit that shared language, shared domain knowledge manifest in the CIO's business knowledge and the TMT's strategic IS knowledge, systems of knowing (structural and social), and CIO-TMT experiential similarity are important determinants of this shared understanding. Data were collected from 243 matched CIO-TMT pairs. Results largely support the proposed nomological network. Specifically, shared understanding between the CIO and TMT is a significant antecedent of IS strategic alignment. Furthermore, shared language, shared domain knowledge, and structural systems of knowing influence the development of shared understanding between the CIO and the TMT. Contrary to expectations and to findings of prior research, social systems of knowing, representing informal social interactions between the CIO and TMT, and experiential similarity did not have a significant effect on shared understanding.