Strategic Alignment of IT and Functional Responsibilities in Top Management Teams: An Empirical Performance Study

摘要

Prior research has found mixed results regarding the performance impact of chief information officers (CIOs) included on top management teams (TMTs). This study answers the question, under which circumstances firms should include IT responsibility in the TMT and how to integrate IT in the TMT to successfully enhance firm financial performance. We explain business/IT alignment based on the distribution of functional responsibilities within the TMT and on the intra-person role effects that stem from heading multiple functional areas. This study empirically shows that having a TMT member responsible for IT and additional externally focused business functions increases firm performance in labor-intensive industries. In addition, we show that a misaligned TMT structure decreases firm performance in labor-intensive industries. Our results are based on a multi-industry panel data set of 372 listed German companies from 2002 to 2009 and on a firm fixed-effects regression model.