The human side of digital transformation: key actors and their intra- and inter-organizational interaction relationships

Abstract

Current technological advancements are reshaping the way organizations conduct business. These digital technologies also lead to major changes in intra- and inter-organizational social interactions. The way people collaborate, work, and communicate is altering, along with the conditions under which they do so. Consequently, many organizations are undergoing digital transformation processes to remain competitive. However, most companies fail to implement these digital transformation initiatives due an insufficient consideration of the social aspects that are crucial to successful organizational change.Despite the growing significance of digital transformation in both business practice and academic research across various disciplines, there remains a lack of in-depth knowledge about the human dimension of this complex phenomenon, i.e., internal and external actors and their social interactions. This dissertation aims to bridge this gap by examining the overarching research question "How does digital transformation affect individuals and intra- and interorganizational social interactions?" In the three manuscripts, that form the main body of this dissertation, various perspectives are adopted, and different methods are applied to gain valuable insights into different aspects of the human side of digital transformation. All articles have been published in international, peer-reviewed journals. The first paper focuses on the impact of digital transformation on leaders' relationships with employees and necessary leadership skills to navigate the resulting challenges. The results of the qualitative study indicate that relationships between leaders and employees change, particularly in times of social distance. This requires a combination of effective leadership skills, conceptual digitalization skills, and strong change management skills. While technical and methodological skills can be substituted with the use of technologies, leaders’ strategic conceptual and social-interactional skills are increasingly crucial. These findings lay the foundation for further research on the effects of key leadership behaviors on relationship members.The second manuscript, based on a group Delphi study with 42 leaders, show that leaders are asked to enact different behaviors in times of digital transformation. While some more traditional behaviors are still important, the changing environment requires certain new ones. The thesis provide a structured overview of appropriate task-oriented and relation-oriented leadership behaviors and their desirable and undesirable influence on both employees and leaders. This reveals double-edged nature of well-intended leadership behaviors.Complementing the two previous papers, the third manuscript explores inter-organizational interactive relationships with organizational members and customers as key external partners. Using a multiple case study involving nine companies, it is investigated how small and mediumsized companies can leverage limited resources by co-creating value and sharing knowledgewith selected customers in digital business ecosystems. The study identifies customer motives for autonomy through access to information for better decision-making, competence through joint service or product development, and relatedness through personal, trusting relationships. Based on these findings, we present an interaction framework with design parametersencompassing social, temporal, methodical, and local considerations. This dissertation significantly advances the understanding of the impact of digitaltransformation on key actors and intra- and inter-organizational social interactions by underpinning the fundamental thesis that digital transformation processes are mainly driven by people and not by technologies. In addition, this work discusses avenues for future research and practical implications for organizations navigating the challenges and opportunities of this dynamic era.