Chief Digital Officers: A Framework for Guiding Research on a New Strategic Leader

Markus Menz, Sven Kunisch, Robert Langan

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Chief Digital Officers (CDOs), senior executives dedicated to their firm’s digital (transformation) issues, have become increasingly common in the C-suite. As such, they are a notable management innovation for strategic leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Studying the CDO thus holds great promise for advancing knowledge about not only this specific role but also about strategic leadership generally in the digital age. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a conceptual foundation to guide future research on the CDO. First, we develop the “3P” framework of CDOs that distinguishes between the CDO’s Position, the Person who is the CDO, and the CDO’s Place, that is the context in which the CDO operates. Second, building on the 3P framework and illustrated with descriptive analyses, we propose research directions and questions that should be considered for analyzing the CDO in a holistic way.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Handbook of Research on Strategic Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
EditorsZeki Simsek, Ciaran Heavey, Brian Fox
Place of publicationCheltenham, UK
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Publication dateJul 2024
Pages435-456
Chapter19
ISBN (Print)978 1 80220 880 1
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2024

Keywords

  • Chief Digital Officers
  • digital age
  • digital transformation
  • Fourth Industrial Revolution
  • top managers
  • strategic leadership
  • upper echelons

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