Problematizing Assumptions on Digital Transformation Research in the Information Systems Field

Abstract

In an era of heightened uncertainty and urgency around disruption, digital transformation has become a global priority on leadership agendas and garnered the attention of researchers across the Information Systems (IS) field. However, the ongoing acceleration of digital technologies not only poses great opportunities but also major challenges for organizations that use digital transformation as a means to survive. Yet, literature on how to successfully implement, manage, and sustain digital transformations that possibly change an organization’s business model, along with its product offering, structure, and culture, is often vague and hence various assumptions can go unexamined. This panel report aggregates insights from an author development workshop on “Managing and Sustaining Digital Transformations” and provides different perspectives from six experts. Specifically, it adopts the problematization method to discuss ten commonly held assumptions regarding digital transformation and presents a research roadmap to guide digital transformation research in the future.