| The purpose of this study was to relate the strength of Chief Information Officer (CIO) transformational leadership behaviors to 1 of 5 computing platform operating systems (OSs) that may be selected for a firm's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) business system. Research shows executive leader behaviors may promote innovation through the use of information technology (IT), in turn affecting business performance. Responsible for IT leadership, CIOs hold the greatest opportunity to influence IT innovation. Yet no research explains the relationship between CIO leadership behaviors and the computing platform selected for critical business applications. This literature gap is important because innovative computing platforms influence a firm's competitiveness and IT cost structure. Research questions asked to what extent transformational leadership theory and its subcomponents (independent variables) predict the selection of more or less innovative OSs (dependent variables). Using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and 17 additional items, data representing 151 randomly selected North American CIOs and their ERP computing platforms were studied using a theoretical framework incorporating the influence of executive-level leadership on technology innovation. Through analysis of variance, t tests, and descriptive statistics, the study uncovered significant relationships between the strength of transformational leadership behaviors, particularly intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation, and the OS selected for a firm's ERP business system. The implications for social change include a clearer understanding of how specific executive-level leadership behaviors may encourage IT workplace innovation, enable IT teams to more effectively meet changing business needs, and positively affect IT team longevity and company-wide business performance. |
