Conceptualizing Digital Transformation Project Effectiveness: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

Abstract

Digital transformation has been a topic of interest in the last decade. However, the concept of digital transformation project effectiveness remains unclear. Many people view digital transformation as a never-ending process. Therefore, many researchers use digital maturity to predict whether an organization will be successful in its digital transformation. However, the fact that the never-ending digital transformation process is actually developed upon the continuous implementation of various digitalization projects should not be ignored. The effectiveness of each digital transformation project influences the success of the long journey of an organization's digital transformation. This article aims to provide a conceptualization of digital transformation project effectiveness as a multi-dimensional construct. This new conceptualization was developed based on the evidence found in the literature and the literature review synthesis. This study shows that the Digital Transformation Project Effectiveness has four dimensions: Business Performance, Financial Performance, Digitally Fit People, and Sustainable Competitiveness. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to conceptualize the effectiveness of digital transformation as a short-term transformation project using the grounded theory method for a rigorous literature review. This study's findings are beneficial to both researchers and practitioners by giving more clarity and better comprehension regarding the concept of digital transformation project effectiveness, thus opening more room for further research and discussions.