News & Insights related to Digital leadership

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The roles and responsibilities of chief digital officers

Many organizations have created a new managerial position – the chief digital officer (CDO) – in response to the challenges and opportunities that digitalization holds. Studies show that CDOs may take important roles in digital transformation of organizations, but also that role expectations can be unclear and hard to meet. It is therefore important for organizations to understand what makes CDOs successful.

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Digital transformation Digital leadership

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Responding to disruptive digital innovation

Digital innovations challenge the existence of traditional organizations and cause severe systemic effects in industries and markets. Building capabilities to respond to such digital disruptions is therefore a central concern for many organizations.

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Organizational agility IT and innovation Digital transformation Digital leadership

Bridging research and practice

Improving the value of strategic IS research for practitioners

Many information systems scholars address issues that are of high practitioner concern, and results from collective research efforts can provide meaningful advice to practitioners in areas of high strategic importance. This requires effective exchange of relevant knowledge between researchers and practitioners.

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Information systems strategy Business – IT alignment Digital transformation Digital leadership


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Article reviews related to Digital leadership

How do chief digital officers pursue digital transformation activities? The role of organization design parameters

Anna Singh.  Patricia Klarner.  Thomas Hess.  (2020),  Long Range Planning , 53 (3)

This study investigates how Chief Digital Officers (CFOs) can pursue digital transformation (DT) activities in their organizations. It emphasizes the locus of responsibility for activities relating to DT and their organizational structuring, and the horizontal coordination mechanisms used by CDOs.

Digital transformation Digital leadership

Chief digital officers: An exploratory analysis of their emergence, nature, and determinants

Sven Kunisch.  Markus Menz.  Robert Langan.  (2020),  Long Range Planning

This article investigates the emergence of the chief digital officer (CDO) position, potential variations of this role, and the conditions under which firms choose to have this position.

Digital transformation Digital leadership

Chief digital officers: An analysis of the presence of a centralized digital transformation role  

Sebastian Firk.  André Hanelt.  Jana Oehmichen.  Michael Wolff.  (2021),  Journal of Management Studies

This study investigates how the decision to centralize digital transformation responsibilities (by appointing a chief digital officer - CDO) is related to transformation urgency and coordination needs of organizations.

Digital transformation Digital leadership

e-Leadership through strategic alignment: An empirical study of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the digital age  

Weizi Li.  Kecheng Liu.  Maksim Belitski.  Abby Ghobadian.  Nicholas O'Regan.  (2016),  Journal of Information Technology , 31 (2) , 185-206.

This article examines how e-leadership capabilities in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) drive successful alignment between business strategy and digital technology.

Organizational agility Business – IT alignment Digital leadership

Building dynamic capabilities for digital transformation: An ongoing process of strategic renewal

Karl S.R. Warner.  Maximilian Wäger.  (2019),  Long Range Planning , 52 (3) , 326-349.

This article explores how incumbent firms in traditional industries build dynamic capabilities for digital transformation. The study emphasizes the senior leader’s point of view on the practice of strategic activities for digital transformation.

Digital transformation Digital leadership IT competence

Digital innovation and institutional entrepreneurship: Chief Digital Officer perspectives of their emerging role  

Sanja Tumbas.  Nicholas Berente.  Jan vom Brocke.  (2018),  Journal of Information Technology , 33 (3) , 188-202.

This article explores how Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) in different organizations make sense of, legitimize, and enact this emerging role. The authors discuss how CDOs drive digital innovation efforts and how they reconcile their role with existing institutional arrangements.

IT and innovation Digital leadership

Digital transformation strategy making in pre-digital organizations: The case of a financial services provider

Simon Chanias.  Michael D. Myers.  Thomas Hess.  (2019),  Journal of Strategic Information Systems , 28 (1) , 17-33.

This article reports on a study of the processes of dynamic and emergent strategy making related to formulating and implementing a digital transformation strategy in a pre-digital financial services organization

Information systems strategy Digital transformation Digital leadership

Paradoxes and the nature of ambidexterity in IT transformation programs

Robert Wayne Gregory.  Mark Keil.  Jan Muntermann.  Magnus Mähring.  (2015),  Information Systems Research , 26 (1) , 57-80.

This article discusses tensions related to goals and priorities that managers need to resolve in IT transformation programs. These tensions are related to the need for managers to mutually accommodate business and IT interests, and balance short-term operational IT contributions and long-term efforts to revamp the IT-platform.

Digital transformation Digital leadership

How information technology governance mechanisms and strategic alignment influence organizational performance: Insights from a matched survey of business and IT managers

Shelly Ping-Ju Wu.  Detmar W. Straub.  Ting-Peng Liang.  (2015),  Management Information Systems Quarterly , 39 (2) , 497-518.

This study investigates how organizational value is created through IT governance mechanisms and business-IT strategic alignment. It shows that IT governance can facilitate alignment between IT strategy and business strategy, and thereby lead to performance improvements.

Information systems strategy Business – IT alignment Digital leadership