Research on the Impact of CIO's Business Resources on Enterprise Digital Strategy

Abstract

In the context of the complex and changeable information age, various high and new technologies are emerging rapidly, and opportunities and challenges coexist in the industry. According to the white paper on the development of China’s digital economy, the scale of China’s digital economy accounted for 36.2% of GDP in 2019, and its nominal growth rate is about 15.6% based on a comparable basis. Under this wave, digital technology continues to empower organizations and has spawned a large number of new practices in the field of management. Whether enterprises can seize the opportunity to realize digital transformation successfully has become a key factor affecting enterprise performance and even determining the survival of enterprises. Considering the enormous benefits of digital transformation and the accompanying risks, the choice of CIO is crucial for enterprises. At present, more and more researchers have begun to explore the role of the CIO in promoting digital strategy. Still, few studies examine the relationship between the CIO’s business resources and digital strategy combined with the characteristics of digital strategy. CIOs’ personal qualities consistent with the enterprise’s digital strategy and their digital-related skills, knowledge, and other resources play a role in promoting the formulation and implementation of digital strategy. This study profoundly explores how the CIO’s business resources affect the enterprise’s digital strategic orientation based on the strategic choice theory. CIO’s business resources include compound education, professional experience, and comprehensive relationships. At the same time, this paper also explores the moderating role of board members with technical backgrounds on the relationship between CIO management capital and digital strategy orientation. After the literature review, this study puts forward relevant hypotheses according to the theory. This study collected 160 U.S. listed companies and 618 enterprise year samples based on multiple data sources Osiris, LinkedIn, and SEC. Based on the LDA model, a new strategy-oriented measurement method is proposed in this study. Subsequently, this study uses objective data to measure each variable and uses a regression model for the hypothesis test, mainly using data analysis tools such as python, SPSS, and Stata. Through data analysis and hypothesis testing, most of the hypotheses of this study are supported. Among them, the compound education of the CIO has a positive impact on the digital strategic orientation of enterprises. The comprehensive relationship between CIO and digital strategic orientation is an inverted U-shaped relationship. Still, the relationship between professional experience and digital strategic orientation is a positive U-shaped relationship. In addition, board members with technical backgrounds negatively adjust the positive relationship between compound education and digital strategic orientation. Their adjustment results on the U-shaped and inverted U-shaped relationship show that the two relationships become steep. That is, the two relationships are enhanced. Then, this study analyzes and discusses the research results, points out the possible interpretation of unsupported hypotheses, and summarizes the contributions of theory and practice. Finally, this paper points out the limitations of this research and potential research directions in the future.