This special issue focuses on the currently ongoing – and recently COVID-19 -accelerated – digital transformation(s) of economy and society. That is, how industry sectors and societal domains are reshaped by the geo-political, organizational and technological nexus that is 'digital transformation'. The literature on digital transformation is interdisciplinary, spanning fields such as information systems (Vial, 2019), management (Hanelt et al., 2021) and other business disciplines (Verhoef et al., 2021). However, this work's broad range and somewhat incoherent framings show a lack of consensus of 'digital transformation' as both a theoretical concept and an empirical field (Warner and Wager, 2019).
Thus far, most digital transformation studies have focused on the organization as the unit of analysis. Why a single definition of digital transformation may be elusive, the digital transformation seems most often used to as a just a shorthand for IT-enabled organizational transformation (Besson and Rowe, 2012; Wessel et al, 2020), an organization-centric approach. Digital transformation processes increasingly take place at wider scales, beyond individual organizations and their business processes. Digital transformation(s) affect financial markets (Currie et al., 2018), healthcare (Pouloudi et al., 2016) or government (Weerakkody et al., 2016). Digital transformation(s) hence often have disruptive effects in relation to industry structures, corporate strategy, consumer experiences, policies and overall economic and societal trajectories (Legner et al., 2017; Zuboff, 2015; Vial, 2019).
In this special issue, we invite especially that a) study digital transformation as a process (preferred over simplistic 'cause-and-effect' hypotheses), and b) understand digital transformation in a broad sense, that is, in relation to industries, governments, economies and societies (preferred over organization-centric approaches).
We are interested in work that understands digital transformation as a process. Studies of interest may use process theories, process analyses and/or process data to provide explanations (Langley, 1999). Process studies offer a means of conceptualizing events and identifying patterns (Gehman et al., 2018). These aspects have often been neglected in IS studies in favour of simplistic variance models (Karpovsky and Galliers 2015). Approaching digital transformation fundamentally as a process promises to produce theoretical accounts with nuanced explanations of change (Weick and Quinn, 1999). Variance models (and other types of models) are also welcomed to the special issue. Still, they will be expected to pay attention to digital transformation as a process and not to neglect the relevant processual patterns or temporal order.
We are interested in work that studies digital transformation in a broad sense. Such work may see digital transformation as a nexus of technological, organizational, industrial, economic, governmental, societal and geo-political changes. This nexus invites theoretical and empirical studies which extend organization-centric views to understanding wider processes in which digital IT plays a key role. Emerging IT (artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics and automation, blockchains and cryptocurrencies, meta- verses, remote working technologies, etc.) may generate specific opportunities for such research. Digital transformations come with significant challenges for businesses and societies, governments, and regulators across jurisdictions. Organization-centric approaches are welcomed to the special issue but must pay attention to wider developments and contexts and argue why the organization is the best locus of study.
In preparing papers for this special issue, authors are expected to engage with the concept of digital transformation as a process and provide critical theoretical and/or empirical analysis extending beyond IT-driven change of isolated business processes.