Digital transformation as an interaction-driven perspective between business, society, and technology

Area of Science:

• Information Systems
• Business Management
• Sociology

Background:

• Digital transformation (DT) is a significant shift in business and society driven by digital technologies.
• Existing DT frameworks often lack comprehensive coverage of societal roles, temporal evolution, and key drivers.
• A developmental literature review of 41 DT frameworks revealed areas needing expansion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel digital transformation framework addressing underrepresented areas in current literature.
• To consolidate existing concepts and explicitly include societal roles and the evolution of digital transformation over time.
• To classify and integrate the drivers of digital transformation.

Main Methods:

• A developmental literature review was conducted on 41 digital transformation frameworks.
• A novel framework was developed by consolidating concepts from the literature.
• Drivers of digital transformation were classified into 23 'digital transformation interactions' across six categories.

Main Results:

• A novel digital transformation framework is proposed, incorporating societal aspects and temporal evolution.
• The framework includes 23 'digital transformation interactions' across six categories, detailing key drivers.
• The proposed framework offers a macro-understanding and a lens for future research.

Conclusions:

• The novel framework enhances the understanding of digital transformation by integrating previously underrepresented elements.
• It provides a foundation for further research into unanswered questions in the field.
• This work aims to be a foundational step towards a unified theory of digital transformation.