Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda

By Gregory Vial. Journal of strategic information systems, 2019

6,061 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Extant literature has increased our understanding of specific aspects of digital transformation, however we lack a comprehensive portrait of its nature and implications. Through a review of 282 works, we inductively build a framework of digital transformation articulated across eight building blocks. Our framework foregrounds digital transformation as a process where digital technologies create disruptions triggering strategic responses from organizations that seek to alter their value creation paths while managing the structural changes and organizational barriers that affect the positive and negative outcomes of this process. Building on this framework, we elaborate a research agenda that proposes [1] examining the role of dynamic capabilities, and [2] accounting for ethical issues as important avenues for future strategic IS research on digital transformation.

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/676743de0f74596009deab3cd1f344894d10b3d9

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Citations in the corpus

The use of digital technologies by small and medium enterprises during COVID-19: Implications for theory and practice (2020, unknown): “privacy (the right to prevent the disclosure of personal information to others) (Vial, 2019).”
Unpacking the Difference Between Digital Transformation and IT-Enabled Organizational Transformation (2021, background): “At the crux of the matter is the fact that DT is currently conceptualized in almost exactly the same way as ITOT (Besson & Rowe, 2012; Vial, 2019), which would seem to contradict current calls to revisit classical models of transformation in order to clarify how digital transformation is different…”
The digitalization and public crisis responses of small and medium enterprises: Implications from a COVID-19 survey (2020, background): “In this study, we argue that digitalization has the potential to help SMEs respond effectively to public crises by activating their dynamic capabilities (Vial 2019).”
Digital transformation: Five recommendations for the digitally conscious firm (2020, unknown): “Rather, digital transformation may be described as a “process that aims to improve an entity by triggering signiﬁcant changes to its properties through combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies” (Vial, 2019, p. 121).”
Preparing Workplaces for Digital Transformation: An Integrative Review and Framework of Multi-Level Factors (2021, methodology): “…have sought to integrate studies on digital transformation across diﬀerent disciplines, contexts, and research streams (Hausberg et al., 2019; Vial, 2019) and identify diﬀerent stages of digital transformation, including key strategies and requirements to facilitate transformation (Verhoef…”
Digital transformation and the new logics of business process management (2020, unknown): “In this respect we add to Vial, (2019) identi ﬁ cation of the structural changes variable in the digital transformation process.”
The Effects of Digital Transformation on Firm Performance: Evidence from China’s Manufacturing Sector (2021, methodology): “The impact of DT is primarily assessed at the organizational level [4].”