The Chief Information Officer and Chief Financial Officer Dyad--How an Effective Relationship Impacts Individual Effectiveness and Strategic Alignment

Study of Chief Information Officer (CIO) relationships has historically focused on the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Top Management Team (TMT). We propose that within publicly funded and not-for-profit organizations, the specific relationship between the CIO and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a critical pairing that impacts both individual effectiveness and strategic alignment. Our findings suggest that while the CIO and CFO pair are similar to other TMT relationships in many ways, their perceptions of the other´s strategic role within the organization is a key differentiator that can lead to effective or adversarial relationships with individual and firm-level outcomes. When the relationship is positive, both individual role effectiveness and strategic alignment improve.