Crossing boundaries: Organization design parameters surrounding CDOs and their digital transformation activities

More and more companies are installing Chief Digital Officer (CDO) positions in order to support the progress of their digital transformation. Since the employment of CDOs may influence companies' organizing logics, we conducted a multiple case study analysis to investigate the organization design parameters surrounding CDOs and their digital transformation activities. By examining the governance architectures in which the companies embed their CDOs (vertical dimension) and the horizontal coordination mechanisms utilized by CDOs (horizontal dimension), we shed light on two dimensions of companies' organizing logics. Our results indicate that CDOs need sufficient influence in the organization to pursue transformation activities and that the vertical and horizontal dimensions of companies' organizing logics are not independent of each other.