Individual-level impediments to digital transformation: A bibliometric literature review
Abstract
Digital transformation has become an important and well-known phenomenon. It creates
opportunities through new digital technologies, but it also puts pressure on organizations to
change the working environment. As new technologies provide new opportunities, it also
creates resistance among individuals within the organization.
We sought to provide a foundation both for future research and for practical implications that
would guide organizations and leaders on individual level impediments through the change
process with digital transformation. We enlighten this gap, which we analyzed and discussed
using a structured literature search conducted in Web of Science. The findings were analyzed
using a content analysis and a through literature review. Research related to the digital
transformation and change resistance shows an exponentially growing interest among
researchers on these concepts. Surprisingly there is very little research that address our
research question, resulting in identifying a clear gap. Considering the amount of available
research on the two bodies of literature separately, it's particularly concerning that there exists
little research on these two concepts jointly, especially on an individual level. A content
analysis was conducted to further discuss similarities and discrepancies, before we
discussed the findings. Our findings and discussion provided us information of the most
important elements for change resistance at an individual level faced during a digital
transformation.
Six factors were identified in this study based on a very meticulous literature search through a
content analysis of our 20 core articles. The findings indicate a strong focus on management,
in the transformation process, and their importance for success. This was surprising, since
the articles didn't explicitly focus on the individuals in terms of employees, but rather the
managers influence over the employees. Beyond that, the other topics addressed the most
were beliefs and mindsets, preparedness and strategy framework, culture, competencies and
communication. All of these factors will affect the resistance individuals experience, caused
by the change process of digital transformation. This is further discussed in the paper, as well
as to how this can assist organizations and practitioners with having a more agile digital
transformation.