From the Special Issue Guest Editors
Authors: M. Eom; Jennifer E. Gerow
Year: 2017

We are pleased to introduce Association for Information Systems Special Interest Group on Information Systems Leadership’s (AIS SIG LEAD) special issue on “IS Leadership.” AIS SIG LEAD consists of 120-plus academicians and researchers worldwide promoting and focusing on the importance of IS leadership in the areas of leadership on the part of senior IS executives, IS professional development (IS employees/internal workforce), and IS professional services (IS consultants and contractors/external workforce). As IT has been assuming a greater strategic role in today’s businesses, the role of IS executives is more important than ever. The complexities of emerging technologies, interdependencies, intricacies of business operations and processes, and a constantly changing business environment present great challenges to IS executives in setting directions, creating commitment, adapting their IT unit, and fitting the organization’s business goals. IS leadership is an important element of IS research, education, and practice because IS leaders set directions, create commitment, and adapt the IS unit to fit a changing environment. Unlike some IT issues, IS leadership is an enduring concern of all societies and organizations because leadership issues never end and leaders are always necessary. Firms that achieve sustainable, positive IS leadership are more likely to develop superior capabilities in IS and gain a considerable competitive advantage. This special issue features five excellent articles (one conceptual and four research articles) in line with the mission of the AIS SIG LEAD that contribute to the accumulation of knowledge in IS academia and practice. Topics covered by this special issue range from attributes of effective IS leadership and strategy, impact of IS leadership on firm performance through use of IT resources and management of IT projects, and emerging issues on IT project management, cloud computing, and Health Information Exchange. “Going Public: Using the Cloud to Improve Project Delivery” addresses a contemporary and relevant topic for incumbent IS leaders. It examines the relationship between proportionally higher use of public cloud infrastructure with schedule delivery variance within IT projects of the United States government. The results show departments of the government that have proportionally higher levels of public cloud usage are better able to deliver projects on schedule than departments with proportionally lower levels of public cloud usage. “Board-Level Information Technology Governance Effects on Organizational Performance: The Roles of Strategic Alignment and Authoritarian Governance Style” examines the influences of key factors on the translation of IT governance by the board of directors to organizational performance gains. It focuses specifically on the importance of strategic alignment and board governance styles in board-level IT governance research. The results show that strategic alignment partially mediates the effect of board-level IT governance on performance. In addition, board governance style moderates the effect of board-level IT governance on performance. “Exploring Health Information Exchange (HIE) Through Collaboration Framework: Normative Guidelines for IT Leadership of Healthcare Organizations” presents a clear and practical set of steps for healthcare IS leaders to promote collaboration between stakeholders to ensure the use of HIE is effective and sustainable for healthcare organizations. Drawn from extant literature, the proposed guidelines of two stages (initiation and maintenance) based on collaboration and data governance provide healthcare IS leaders with interesting and valuable strategies from the perspective of HIEs and IS researchers with a framework for future research. “Can Political Skill Enhance Business and IT Knowledge?” is an empirical study that examines how CIOs can be influential using their political skill. The study indicates a moderating role of Chief Information Officers’ (CIO) political skill in the relationship between their business and IT knowledge, and their influence on the executive team’s commitment to IT initiatives. This adds value to existing studies of CIO leadership and IS executives with another important skill to develop and possess to be more effective in the c-suite. “Investigating the Prevalence and Performance Correlates of Vertical Versus Shared Leadership in Emergent Software Development Teams” examines a key role of leadership in IT projects. Using theories INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT 2017, VOL. 34, NO. 2, 103–104 https://doi.org/10.1080/10580530.2017.1288520