Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

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

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Information Technology

Abstract

In this study, we explore the role of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) through the perspectives of CDOs in thirty-five organizations. In enacting their emerging role, CDOs must navigate the existing institutionalized context of established information technology (IT) roles and respective jurisdictional claims. We find that CDOs intentionally draw on the term “digital” to distance themselves from existing executive roles in order to gain legitimacy. CDOs as institutional entrepreneurs take a focal role in both: (1) articulating and developing the emerging “digital” logic of action and (2) enacting this digital logic through strategies such as grafting, bridging, and decoupling to navigate tensions between the existing and emerging approaches to innovation with digital technologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbott, A. (1988). The System of Professions. An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agarwal, R. and Sambamurthy, V. (2002). Principles and Models for Organizing the IT Function, MIS Quarterly Executive 1(1): 158–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Applegate, L.M. and Elam, J.J. (1992). New Information Systems Leaders: A Changing Role in a Changing World, Management Information Systems Quarterly 16(4): 469–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avgerou, C. (2000). IT and Organizational Change: An Institutionalist Perspective, Information Technology & People 13(4): 234–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bacharach, S.B., Bamberger, P. and Sonnenstuhl, W.J. (1996). The Organizational Transformation Process: The Micropolitics of Dissonance Reduction and the Alignment of Logics of Action, Administrative Science Quarterly 41(3): 477–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banker, R. and Kauffman, R. (1991). Reuse and Productivity in Integrated Computer-Aided Software Engineering: An Empirical Study, Management Information Systems Quarterly 15(3): 375–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batra, D., Xia, W., VanderMeer, D. and Dutta, K. (2010). Balancing Agile and Structured Development Approaches to Successfully Manage Large Distributed Software Projects: A Case Study from the Cruise Line Industry, Communications of the Association for Information Systems 27: 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J. (2006). Agency and Institutions: The Enabling Role of Individuals’ Social Position, Organization 13(5): 653–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J., Leca, B. and Boxenbaum, E. (2009). How Actors Change Institutions: Towards a Theory of Institutional Entrepreneurship, The Academy of Management Annals 3(1): 65–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bechky, B.A. (2003). Object Lessons: Workplace Artifacts as Representations of Occupational Jurisdiction, American Journal of Sociology 109(3): 720–752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin, R.I., Dickinson, Jr, C. and Rockart, J.F. (1985). Changing Role of the Corporate Information Systems Officer, Management Information Systems Quarterly 9(3): 177–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berente, N. and Yoo, Y. (2012). Institutional Contradictions and Loose Coupling: Postimplementation of NASA’s Enterprise Information System, Information Systems Research 23(2): 376–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O.A., Pavlou, P.A. and Venkatraman, N. (2013). Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights, Management Information Systems Quarterly 37(2): 471–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, N.G., Riemenschneider, C.K., Hardgrave, B.C. and O’Leary-Kelly, A. M. (2011). IT Professional Identity: Needs, Perceptions, and Belonging, European Journal of Information Systems 20(1): 87–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing Grounded Theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J.W. (2012). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (3rd ed.), Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska, B. and Mazza, C. (2003). Consulting as a Liminal Space, Human Relations 56(3): 267–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska-Joerges, B. and Sevón, G. (1996). Translating Organizational Change, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Day, G.S. (2011). Closing the Marketing Capabilities Gap, Journal of Marketing, 75(4): 183–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. (1997). Culture and Cognition, Annual Review of Sociology 23(1): 263–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dyché, J. (2015). 6 Responsibilities of the Chief Digital Officer, CIO magazine.

  • Economist, T. (2013). Surfing a Digital Wave, or Drowning? The Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/business/21591201-information-technology-everywhere-companies-it-departments-mixed.

  • Fichman, R.G., Dos Santos, B.L. and Zheng, Z.E. (2014). Digital Innovation as a Fundamental and Powerful Concept in the Information System Curriculum, Management Information Systems Quarterly 38(2): 329–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flick, U. (2009). An Introduction To Qualitative Research Sage (Vol. 4), Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fligstein, N. (1990). The Transformation of Corporate Control, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fligstein, N. (1997). Social Skill and Institutional Theory, American Behavioral Scientist 40(4): 397–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedland, R. and Alford, R. (1991). Bringing Society Back In: Symbols, Practices and Institutional Contradictions, Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garud, R., Jain, S. and Kumaraswamy, A. (2002). Institutional Entrepreneurship in the Sponsorship of Common Technological Standards: The Case of Sun Microsystems and Java, Academy of Management Journal 45(1): 196–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerring, J. (2006). Case Study Research: Principles and Practices, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goodhue, D.L., Chen, D.Q., Claude, M., Davis, A.. and Cochran, J.D. (2009). Addressing Business Agility Challenges with Enterprise Systems, MIS Quarterly Executive.

  • Greenwood, R. and Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutional Entrepreneurship in Mature Fields: The Big Five Accounting Firms, Academy of Management Journal 49(1): 27–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, R. (2016). The Industries That are Being Disrupted the Most by Digital, Harvard Business Review, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillemette, M. and Pare, G. (2012). Toward a New Theory of the Contribution of the IT Function in Organizations, Management Information Systems Quarterly 36(2): 529–551.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haffke, I., Kalgovas, B. and Benlian, A. (2016). The Role of the CIO and the CDO in an Organization’s Digital Transformation. in ICIS 2016 Proceedings. http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2016/ISStrategy/Presentations/3.

  • Hardgrave, B.C., Davis, F.D. and Riemenschneider, C.K. (2003). Investigating Determinants of Software Developers’ Intentions to Follow Methodologies, Journal of Management Information Systems 20(1): 123–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, C. and Maguire, S. (2008). Institutional Entrepreneurship, in R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, R. Suddaby, and K. Sahlin-Andersson (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. SAGE Publication Ltd.

  • Henfridsson, O. (2014). The Power of An Intellectual Account: Developing Stories of the Digital Age, Journal of Information Technology 29(4): 356–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henfridsson, O., Mathiassen, L. and Svahn, F. (2014). Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames. Journal of Information Technology 29(1): 27–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henfridsson, O. and Yoo, Y. (2014). The Liminality of Trajectory Shifts in Institutional Entrepreneurship, Organization Science, 25(3): 932–950.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iansiti, M. and Lakhani, K. R. (2014). Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data are Revolutionizing Business, Harvard Business Review, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jepperson, R.L. (1991). Institutions, Institutional Effects, and Institutionalism, in P. DiMaggio (ed.), The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 143–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahl, S.J., King, B.G. and Liegel, G. (2016). Occupational Survival Through Field-Level Task Integration: Systems Men, Production Planners, and the Computer, 1940s–1990s, Organization Science 27(5): 1084–1107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karlsson, F. and Hedström, K. (2013). Evaluating End User Development as a Requirements Engineering Technique for Communicating Across Social Worlds During Systems Development, Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 25(2): 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, J.L. (2011). CIO: Concept is Over, Journal of Information Technology 26(2): 129–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, H.K. and Myers, M.D. (1999). A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems, Management Information Systems Quarterly 23(1): 67–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. and Berente, N. (2012). Digital Innovation and the Division of Innovative Labor: Digital Controls in the Automotive Industry, Organization Science 23(5): 1428–1447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonardi, P.M. (2011). Innovation Blindness: Culture, Frames, and Cross-Boundary Problem Construction in the Development of New Technology Concepts, Organization Science 22(2): 347–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levina, N. and Vaast, E. (2005). The Emergence of Boundary Spanning Competence in Practice: Implications for Implementation and Use of Information Systems, Management Information Systems Quarterly 29(2): 335–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, H.C., Agarwal, R., Clemons, E.K., El Sawy, O.A. and Weber, B. (2013). Impactful Research on Transformational Information Technology: An Opportunity to Inform new Audiences, Management Information Systems Quarterly 37(2): 371–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, M.P. and Rowsell-Jones, A. (2012). The Digital Edge: Exploiting Information and Technology for Business Advantage, Incorporated: Gartner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J.W. and Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Myth and Ceremony, The American Journal of Sociology 83(2): 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J. (1979). A Framework for MIS Software Development Projects, Management Information Systems Quarterly 3(1): 29–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller, O., Junglas, I., Debortoli, S. and vom Brocke, J. (2016). Using Text Analytics to Derive Customer Service Management Benefits from Unstructured Data, MIS Quarterly Executive 15(4): 243–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nambisan, S., Lyytinen, K., Majchrzak, A. and Song, M. (2017). Digital Innovation Management: Reinventing Innovation Management Research in a Digital World, Management Information Systems Quarterly 41(1): 223–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nylén, D. and Holmström, J. (2015). Digital Innovation strategy: A Framework for Diagnosing and Improving Digital Product and Service Innovation, Business Horizons 58(1): 57–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pache, A.C. and Santos, F. (2012). Inside the Hybrid Organization: Selective Coupling as a Response to Conflicting Institutional Logics, Academy of Management Journal 56(4): 972–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peppard, J., Edwards, C. and Lambert, R. (2011). Clarifying the Ambiguous Role of the CIO, MIS Quarterly Executive 10(2): 115–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, N., Lawrence, T.B. and Hardy, C. (2004). Discourse and Institutions, Academy of Management Review 29(4): 635–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purvis, J. (2015). Human Resources Marketing and Recruiting: Essentials of Digital Recruiting, in M. Zeuch (ed.) Handbook of Human Resources Management, Berlin: Springer, pp. 53–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qualtrough, E. (2016). Chief Digital Officer Salary and Job Description—What’s the CDO Role and How Much Does a Chief Digital Officer get paid? CIO magazine. http://www.cio.co.uk/cio-career/chief-digital-officer-salary-job-description-cdo-role-3627790/.

  • Rickards, T., Smaje, K., and Sohoni, V. (2015). Transformer in Chief: The New Chief Digital Officer, McKinsey&Company. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/transformer_in_chief_the_new_chief_digital_officer.

  • Ross, J.W. and Feeny, D.F. (1999). The Evolving Role of the CIO, in CISR WP No. 308. Center for Information Systems Research MIT.

  • Royle, J. and Laing, A. (2014). The Digital Marketing Skills Gap: Developing a Digital Marketer Model for the Communication Industries, International Journal of Information Management 34(2): 65–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanner, T.A., Manda, T.D. and Nielsen, P. (2014). Grafting: Balancing Control and Cultivation in Information Infrastructure Innovation, Journal of the Association for Information Systems 15(4): 220–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sawyaradaj, A., Sawy, O.E., Pavlou, P. and Venkatraman, N. (2013). Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights, Management Information Systems Quarterly 37(2): 471–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seidel, S. and Urquhart, C. (2013). On Emergence and Forcing in Information Systems Grounded Theory Studies: The Case of Strauss and Corbin, Journal of Information Technology 28(3): 237–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo, M.-G. and Creed, D.W.E. (2002). Institutional Contadictions, Praxis, and Institutional Change: A Dialectical Perspective, Academy of Management Review 27(2): 222–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sojer, M. and Henkel, J. (2010). Code Reuse in Open Source Software Development: Quantitative Evidence, Drivers, and Impediments, Journal of the Association for Information Systems 11(12): 868–901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Star, S.L. and Ruhleder, K. (1996). Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces, Information Systems Research 7(1): 111–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svahn, F., Mathiassen, L. and Lindgren, R. (2017). Embracing Digital Innovation in Incumbent Firms: How Volvo Cars Managed Competing Concerns, Management Information Systems Quarterly 41(1): 239–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tambe, P. (2014). Big Data Investment, Skills, and Firm Value, Management Science 60(6): 1452–1469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanriverdi, H., Rai, A. and Venkatraman, N. (2010). Research Commentary—Reframing the Dominant Quests of Information Systems Strategy Research for Complex Adaptive Business Systems, Information Systems Research 21(4): 822–834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P.H., Ocasio, W. and Lounsbury, M. (2012). The Institutional Logics Perspective: A New Approach to Culture, Structure, and Process, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tilson, D., Lyytinen, K. and Sørensen, C. (2010). Research Commentary—Digital Infrastructures: The Missing IS Research Agenda, Information Systems Research 21(4): 748–759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiwana, A., Konsynski, B. and Bush, A.A. (2010). Research Commentary—Platform Evolution: Coevolution of Platform Architecture, Governance, and Environmental Dynamics, Information Systems Research 21(4): 675–687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd, P.A., McKeen, J.D. and Gallupe, R. B. (1995). The Evolution of IS Job Skills: A Content Analysis of IS Job Advertisements from 1970 to 1990, Management Information Systems Quarterly 19(1): 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tumbas, S., Schmiedel, T., and vom Brocke, J. (2015). Characterizing Multiple Institutional Logics for Innovation with Digital Technologies, in 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Kauai, Hawaii, pp. 4151–4160.

  • Urquhart, C. (2013). Grounded Theory for Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide, London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • vom Brocke, J. (2016). Interview with Martin Petry on ‘Digital Innovation for the Networked Society, Business & Information Systems Engineering 58(3): 239–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, K. and Dacin, M.T. (2011). The Cultural Construction of Organizational Life: Introduction to the Special Issue, Organization Science 22(2): 287–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weill, P. and Woerner, L.S. (2016). Top-Performing CIOs in the Digital Era, Cambridge: Center for Information Systems Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoo, Y., Henfridsson, O. and Lyytinen, K. (2010). Research Commentary-The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research, Information Systems Research 21(4): 724–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zmud, R.W. (1980). Management of Large Software Development Efforts, Management Information Systems Quarterly 4(2): 45–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the support and time the CDOs dedicated to  participate in the study, as well as the editorial and reviewer team for constructive and challenging comments. Also, we are thankful for the opportunity to present earlier versions of the manuscript during the KIN (The Knowledge, Information and Innovation Research Group) “Workshop Organizing for Digital Innovation” in Amsterdam 2016.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain

    Sanja Tumbas

  2. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Nicholas Berente

  3. Institute of Information Systems, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

    Jan vom Brocke

Authors
  1. Sanja Tumbas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nicholas Berente
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jan vom Brocke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanja Tumbas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tumbas, S., Berente, N. & vom Brocke, J. Digital innovation and institutional entrepreneurship: Chief Digital Officer perspectives of their emerging role. J Inf Technol 33, 188–202 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41265-018-0055-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41265-018-0055-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation