Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management (Apr 2021)

A competency model for chief digital officer as organizational governor of digital transformation

  • Seyed Mahdi HosseiniNasab,
  • Mehdi ShamiZanjani,
  • Arian Gholipor

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 36, no. 3
pp. 835 – 860

Abstract

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In this digital age, companies figured out that without using digital technologies and disruptive mindsets, they cannot survive. Digital transformation is the solution to many of organizational strategic problems in this age. Studying digital transformation elements has shown that governing this tremendous change is one of the most important factors for succeeding in this transformation. But there is a lack of conceptualizing for digital transformation governance. Role of the Chief Digital Officer is the most referenced organizational position for managing and governing the digital age disruption. But there wasnchr('39')t a competency model for recognizing a good CDO in academic literature. In this paper, we used two steps research method for development of a competency model for CDO. At first a meta-synthesis method was used to develop the first version of the competency model. After that, through expert interviews, this model was checked and improved so, at the end of two phases, a competency model for CDOs was introduced. It has 71 competencies in 4 categories. "Personal traits", "professional skills", "business knowledge" and "technical knowledge". The first two categories have many similarities with other c-suits, but the knowledge of digital technologies and understanding the use of them in business functions is the point of differentiation with other senior managers

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