CIOS’ STRATEGIC INVOLVEMENT: SENSEMAKING AND ISSUE-SELLING PERSPECTIVES The role of CIOs in sharing strategic vision with top management

While normative research in IS has recommended strategic partnership-building between Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and top management (Earl & Feeny, 1994; Feeny, Edwards, & Simpson, 1992), many CIOs express they have difficulty in trying to prove the explicit benefits of such a relationship (e.g., Martin, 2007; Overby, 2003). Due in part to the paradoxical nature of and complexity involved in IT value (Brynjolfsson, 1993), senior executives are often puzzled about the tangible advantage that the technology can deliver (Carr, 2003). In such cases, CIOs are perhaps inclined to take a conservative position, maintaining IT functional roles, such as utility supports, rather than proactive strategic initiatives.