Conflicting Roles of CIOs and their Negative Effects on the Workplace of the Future

Demographic change is forcing companies to find new ways to attract skilled knowledge-workers to safeguard strong economic performance. In particular, in the case of younger generations, companies have the opportunity to increase their attractiveness apart from usual incentives like a high salary by addressing these generations’ altered expectations towards their professional life and their work-life balance. Recent studies show, however, that companies often struggle to implement the necessary information technology. Drawing on role theory and existing literature, we developed a role framework to identify intra-role conflicts perceived by the chief information officers and inter-role conflicts between the IT and other departments. Through qualitative interviews with representatives from five companies, we identify numerous role conflicts, particularly common in smaller companies and companies managed by their owners. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.