Industrial organizations are responding to new risks and opportunities originating from exponentially growing and disruptive digital technologies, by taking company-wide digital transformation initiatives. However, the key enablers of such digital transformation initiatives that facilitate operational performance outcomes in industrial organizations demand further investigation. Therefore, drawing on the sociotechnical system theory (STS), the objective of this study is to explore the digital transformation enablers and their impact on performance outcomes. Research data was collected from four leading industrial organizations that engaged in digital transformation programmes. Our results indicate that leadership, structures, and culture are the key enablers of digital transformation that help industrial organizations to achieve performance outcomes (i.e. collaboration, customer-centricity, and agility). By providing an empirically grounded integrated framework with future research propositions, this study contributes to the existing literature on digital transformation and sociotechnical system theory. MAD statementThis article aims to make a difference by exploring industrial digital transformation in order to identify the key enablers and performance outcomes. We highlight the need for alignment and joint optimization of social and technical systems to effectively capitalize on the digital transformation initiatives. Moreover, we call for urgent attention to the development of leaders, as well as the further identification of supportive digital transformation leadership competencies. Competent leaders assume a central role in correcting outdated and invalid assumptions, conceptualizing new ideas, and reinforcing cultural values. Furthermore, we elaborate the necessity of cultural transformation in industrial organizations for impactful digital transformation. Lastly, our findings confirm the significance of organizational structure in digital transformation and simultaneously warn that too little is happening.
This paper reviews the concept of Industry 4.0 related challenges and basic requirements for successful implementation of it. It proposed that sociotechnical system theory (STS) and competence-based view (CBV) are best approaches towards implementation of industry 4.0 in the organizations. STS theory leads to such systems, which are more acceptable to end users and deliver better value. While competencebased view prepare those users to interact efficiently with new systems. To support competence-based view for industry 4.0 we argue that competence models of the Evolute approach need to be revised and updated, as well as, there is need for new competence models for emerging new job profiles. The combination of these three approaches will result into successful implementation of new industry 4.0 systems in the organizations.
Digital transformation (DT) is disrupting industrial organizations, which require significant changes in their properties to remain competitive. This calls for strong leadership to drive this transformation. However, what leadership competencies are required to lead DT impactfully is unclear. Therefore, we seek to identify the key leadership competencies by employing a qualitative, grounded theory approach. By conducting interviews of ten DT experts from two hardcore industrial organizations, we highlight five key leadership competencies that industrial organizations need to develop in their leaders: digital vision, digital knowledge, failing fast, empowerment, and managing diverse teams. The results of this study will help industrial organizations to strategically prepare their leadership for the requirements of DT.
The Covid-19 pandemic, by effecting businesses, is inciting inter-and intra-organizational challenges requiring firms to adopt and/or adapt approaches that facilitate in managing business operations. Confronting such epidemic and its related challenges is importantly based on efficient internal and external collaboration. Interorganizational trust is also becoming fragile particularly in uncertain situations such as current pandemic. Therefore, firms are struggling to even survive as their whole supply chain has erupted and lacking trust on external partners. In such circumstances, digital transformation is preparing organizations to address these issues and can support them to provide the opportunities to cope up and bounce back. This means that digital innovation and transformation seem to be playing a crucial role in recovering from the effect of Covid-19. Therefore, this paper taps on the topical issue of the varying impact of Covid-19 on internal and external operations of firms and how digital innovation and transformation play a critical role keep-up with 'new normal' routines.
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