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Grounded in the principal-agent theory, this study aims to develop and test hypotheses too, investigate how the firm’s strategic orientations, namely, innovation, growth, differentiation and cost leadership impact the chief information officer (CIO) reporting relationship and structure.

The study uses content analysis to analyze a data set of press releases collected from the LexisNexis Academic wire index. The press releases were issued by firms when they hired CIOs between 2003 and 2007, yielding 128 firms, which had specific information about the CIO reporting relationship and structure.

The results reveal that firms seeking an innovation, growth or differentiation strategy have their CIOs reporting to the chief executive officer.

The current study is motivated by the desire to replicate and extend the works of previous researchers who have assessed various CIO issues. Replication takes several forms such as the use of similar or different data sets, different research environments or reinvestigating research concepts through a different theoretical lens. This study makes use of a multi-firm data set spanning five years and the principal-agent theory as the theoretical framework to explore the CIO reporting relationship and structure. Although this study focuses on the hiring trends and the strategic orientations of the firms, future studies should explore other characteristics associated with the CIOs that might have an impact on the reporting relationship such as the years of experience, age, educational background of CIOs and information technology budgets.

The existing literature has not settled the debate as to whom the CIO should be reporting to and understanding the reporting relationships is important because, in many firms, the organizational structures and the reporting relationships are indicative of the power dynamics and how the organizational resources are controlled and shared.

Replication studies are important because they confirm, reinforce, extend and provide reliability to the paradigms and knowledge in the discipline, as well as offer reliability of the results upon which scientific progress is based.

MIS researchers have consistently adopted survey‐based research method while investigating MIS and related phenomenon, making survey‐based research method one of the widely used research method in MIS research. This study seeks to revisit some of the inherent characteristics of survey‐based research method with the aim of improving the quality, replication, and validation of results in MIS survey‐based studies. Additionally, this study provides information on the most prevalent analytical and statistical tools used in MIS survey research studies.

In this research, the authors adopt the content analysis technique. The choice of content analysis is premised on the desire to investigate the sources of survey data, units of analysis, research methods, and statistical tools used in MIS research with the aim of improving empirical research in the MIS discipline.

The results show the prevalent sources of data, the dominant units of analysis, the most commonly used analytical research methods, and the statistical tools adopted by many MIS researchers. The results indicate that many MIS researchers get their data from US sources, although researchers are increasingly acquiring data from other countries. Also, the results reveal that most MIS survey researchers are using SEM, LISREL, and PLS statistical methods and tools.

The paper concludes with recommendations and implications on how to inform and retool upcoming and existing researchers on the current and future MIS research tools and methods. Editors should ensure that MIS researchers provide as much information as possible about the sources of data, the dominant units of analysis, the analytical research methods used, and the statistical tools adopted; these will demonstrate the rigor of the research process and enable replication, validation, and extension of the research works.

The paper presents the results of a content analysis of 749 survey‐based research articles published between 1990 and 2010 in nine mainstream MIS Journals. Prior studies have broadly addressed aspects of MIS research methodologies like investigating MIS research methods, ranking them, and generated a taxonomy of MIS research methodology. The results of this study make a case for the reporting of, both, the analytical method(s) and statistical tools used by MIS researchers to aid in replicating, validating, and extending the resultant findings of their survey‐based research.

In most firms, accounting and financial information and reporting systems are either incorporated or embedded in computer-based information systems (IS). Despite the important roles that these computer-based IS play in facilitating the SOX Act compliance initiatives, the act is silent on the roles of the CIOs, although it does stipulate specific functions for the CEOs, CFOs, and the auditors. Based on a detailed analysis of the extant literature, this article argues that IT units, under the leadership of the CIOs, contribute significantly in the procurement, design, implementation, and the governance of these computer-based IS. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The researchers generate and empirically test hypotheses using a panel data set obtained from press releases issued by firms following the hiring of CIOs between 1999 and 2005.

The results reveal that, after the enactment of the SOX Act in 2002, many firms hired new CIOs in the post-SOX Act period. Also, many of these executives were hired to fill newly created Chief information officer (CIO) positions. The results support the argument that the SOX Act has influenced the roles of senior IT executives and IT governance.

Although this study focused on hiring trends, there are other characteristics associated with CIOs that might have an impact on corporate IT governance. Future studies could investigate whether or not, for instance, firms reported fewer IT material weaknesses before or after the hire of the CIOs.

This research presents the argument and detailed discussion that while the SOX Act does not explicitly require the CIOs to sign off on the accounting/financial statements and reports, their role is fundamental in making the firm meet the SOX Act compliance standards.