Information is a key: Systematic literature review and empirical results on role configurations of chief information officers and chief digital officers

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Patrick Ulrich ORCID logo, Sonja Lehmann

https://doi.org/10.22495/cbsrv4i1art8

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Abstract

In the context of the digitization of companies, the executive positions of chief information officer (CIO) and chief digital officer (CDO) are becoming more important. Based on a systematic literature analysis and an empirical survey among German companies, this article shows that there are clear overlaps and role conflicts between CIOs (Hunter, 2010) and CDOs (Kunisch et al., 2020) in company practice. However, the CDO in particular has some areas of responsibility, such as communicating the need for digitization in companies, which are not attributed to the CIO. These might therefore be seen as new tasks. In contrast, topics such as information technology (IT) costs and efficiency as well as strategy orientation, but also cybersecurity and IT governance are more likely to be seen as the responsibility of the CIO. Judging by the results of the literature analysis and the empirical study, it might be feasible to maintain both positions in the future.

Keywords: Board Dynamics, CIO, CDO, Systematic Literature Analysis, Empirical Study

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — P.U. and S.L.; Methodology — P.U. and S.L.; Formal Analysis — S.L.; Writing — Original Draft — P.U. and S.L.; Writing — Review & Editing — P.U.; Visualization — S.L.; Supervision — S.L.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: M10, M13, M15

Received: 03.05.2022
Accepted: 03.02.2023
Published online: 07.02.2023

How to cite this paper: Ulrich, P., & Lehmann, P. (2023). Information is a key: Systematic literature review and empirical results on role configurations of chief information officers and chief digital officers. Corporate & Business Strategy Review, 4(1), 87–98. https://doi.org/10.22495/cbsrv4i1art8