Flourishing digital technology in professional services firms: multidisciplinary perspectives in India

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the role of digitalization on the key characteristics of professional service firms (PSFs) that are part of the service sector and inherently oriented with intense knowledge, capital and professionalized workforces.xD; xA.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a qualitative, exploratory and inductive research methodology based on in-depth interviews with 49 entrepreneurs/professionals of PSFs focusing on the role of digitalization including capital intensity, knowledge intensity and professionalized workforce.FindingsThe result reflected that digitalization facilitates at lower levels of knowledge intensity, whereas it increases the capital intensity for most of the firms and decreases the professionalization of the workforce among PSFs.Originality/valueThe study provides empirical validations where digitalization has changed the distinctive characteristics of PSFs, which promotes new practices, allows for variation and transforms their competitive contexts. In light of these findings, the authors illuminated the application of digitalization on the Indian law firms, retail, education, healthcare and manufacturing industry.