Influences on the IS Manager's Perceptions of Key Issues: Informaiton Scanning and the Relationship with the CEO

This study investigates some factors that may influence the information systems (IS) manager’s perceptions of key issues. A conceptual model relates key issues to the IS manager’s scanning behavior and relationship with the CEO. The study, based on data collected from 43 Australian IS managers, describes the information scanning behavior of IS executives. The investigation reports to findings: (1) IS managers who have two-way communication with the CEO rate IS strategic planning as less critical; and (20 IS managers tend to scan resources that are close to the industry and they are most influence by their peers. The findings suggest that IS managers need to be more aware of the necessity to match the ambiguity of a message with its method of transmission, and they should consider broadening their scanning if they wish to find new opportunities for exploiting information systems technology.