Empirical identification of skills gaps between chief information officer supply and demand: a resource-based view using machine learning

Abstract

PurposeThe role of emerging digital technologies is of growing strategic importance as it provides significant competitive advantage to organisations. The chief information officer (CIO) plays a pivotal role in facilitating the process of digital transformation. Whilst demand continues to increase, the supply of suitably qualified applicants is lacking, with many companies forced to choose information technology (IT) or marketing specialists instead. This research seeks to analyse the organisational capabilities required and the level of fit within the industry between CIO requirements and appointments via the resource-based view.Design/methodology/approachJob postings and CIO curriculum vitae were collected and analysed through the lens of organisational capability theory using the machine learning method of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA).FindingsThis research identifies gaps between the capabilities demanded by organisations and supplied by CIOs. In particular, soft, general, non-specific capabilities are over-supplied, while rarer specific skills, qualifications and experience are under-supplied.Practical implicationsThe research is useful for practitioners (e.g. potential CIO candidates) to understand current market requirements and for companies aiming to develop internal training that meet present and future skill gaps. It also could be useful for professional organisations (e.g. CIO Forum) to validate the need to develop mentoring schemes that help meet such high demand and relative undersupply of qualified CIOs.Originality/valueBy applying LDA, the paper provides a new research method and process for identifying competence requirements and gaps as well as ascertaining job fit. This approach may be helpful to other domains of research in the process of identifying specific competences required by organisations for particular roles as well as to understand the level of fit between such requirements and a potential pool of applicants. Further, the study provides unique insight into the current supply and demand for the role of CIO through the lens of resource-based view (RBV). This provides a contribution to the stream of information systems (IS) research focused on understanding CIO archetypes and how individual capabilities provide value to companies.

The role of trade associations in the digital transformation of their industry

“…, 2021). Other research has looked at TAs as suitable players in developing training and mentoring schemes that can help mitigate skill gaps in the job market such as the high demand for qualified chief information officers (CIOs) (Barnes, Rutter, La Paz, & Scornavacca, 2021) or the digital skills training of supply chain workers (Foroughi, 2020). Fiehn et al.…”

“…redefining the business model (Mues et al, 2021), providing high-quality information to their customers (Spiegel, Weiss, Stoycheva, Canis, & Ihler, 2021) or collaborating between the government, industry and academia (Fitnawan et al, 2021). Other research has looked at TAs as suitable players in developing training and mentoring schemes that can help mitigate skill gaps in the job market such as the high demand for qualified chief information officers (CIOs) (Barnes, Rutter, La Paz, & Scornavacca, 2021) or the digital skills training of supply chain workers (Foroughi, 2020). Fiehn et al (2020) found that the professional association of German rheumatologists is a key stakeholder in ensuring optimal care for all patients through appropriate delegation of medical duties and treatments.…”

Preparing for Industry 5.0: a methodology for avoiding corporate amnesia

“…Thus, mentoring is seen as a short-term one-on-one process that is directly associated with increased knowledge sharing (Curtis and Taylor, 2018); the experienced employees provide guidance to newcomers regarding content knowledge, required abilities (Al-Zoubi et al. , 2020; Barnes et al. , 2021), and ways of thinking and behaving (Geeraerts et al.…”

“…Classical knowledge sharing strategies focus on the knowledge flows that pass from experienced to the less experienced employees. Thus, mentoring is seen as a short-term one-on-one process that is directly associated with increased knowledge sharing (Curtis and Taylor, 2018); the experienced employees provide guidance to newcomers regarding content knowledge, required abilities (Al-Zoubi et al, 2020;Barnes et al, 2021), and ways of thinking and behaving (Geeraerts et al, 2018). Mentoring often complements training, which is a traditional classroom-style event (courses, seminars, workshops) that focuses on transforming individually shared knowledge into collective knowledge (Krull et al, 2022;Lim et al, 2022), the trainer acts as a knowledge diffuser, while the trainees act as passive knowledge receivers, storing the acquired knowledge as shared meanings and mental models.…”

A Review of Digital Transformation on Supply Chain Process Management Using Text Mining

“…A digital supply chain (DSC) electronically delivers products from origin to destination [9]. DSC helps increase responsiveness, flexibility, and agility [10].…”