Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda
Open accessAbstract
Digital transformation and resultant business model innovation have fundamentally altered consumers’ expectations and behaviors, putting immense pressure on traditional firms, and disrupting numerous markets. Drawing on extant literature, we identify three stages of digital transformation: digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation. We identify and delineate growth strategies for digital firms as well as the assets and capabilities required in order to successfully transform digitally. We posit that digital transformation requires specific organizational structures and bears consequences for the metrics used to calibrate performance. Finally, we provide a research agenda to stimulate and guide future research on digital transformation.
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New institutional theory has been widely used in the digital transformation literature to investigate various aspects of digital transformation.
“NIT has been widely used in the digital transformation literature to investigate various aspects of digital transformation (Dubey et al., 2018b; Shashi et al., 2020; Verhoef et al., 2021).”
From Mastering digital transformation: The nexus between leadership, agility, and digital strategy (2022) · cites this paper as Verhoef et al., 2021
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“These new digital technologies are likely to structurally change consumer behavior (cf. Ho ff man & Novak, 2017; Verhoef et al., 2017), and, consequently, the use of new digital technologies can easily become the new norm and defy traditional business rules.”
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“In other words, digital transformation requires targeted organizational restructuring and entails consequences for the metrics used to adjust performance (Verhoef et al., 2021).”
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- Authors
- Verhoef, P. C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Qi Dong, J., Fabian, N., & Haenlein, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Groningen (NL)
- Northeastern University (US)
- ESCP Business School (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Verhoef, Peter C.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Business Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 122
- Pages
- 889-901
- ISSN
- 0148-2963 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2978346165
- Cited by
- 5,720
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1619 · 2025: 1154 · 2024: 1113 · 2023: 935 · 2022: 541 · 2021: 276 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 377.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Business Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Digital Innovation in Industries
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Business Strategies and Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Economy and Transformation
- Keywords
- digital transformation, business model innovation, digitization, digitalization, digital companies, growth strategy, organizational capabilities, organizational structure, performance indicators, customer expectations, market disruption
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