Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/29103
Title: Mobilising new frontiers in digital transformation research: A problematization review
Authors: Ashrafi, A
Constantinides, P
Mehandjiev, N
Thatcher, JB
Keywords: digital transformation (DT);DT frontiers;DT research trajectories;field assumptions;problematization review
Issue Date: 13-May-2024
Citation: Ashrafi, A. et al. (2024) 'Mobilising new frontiers in digital transformation research: A problematization review', Information Systems Journal, 0 (ahead of print), pp. 1 - 43. doi: 10.1111/isj.12531.
Abstract: In this paper, we mobilise new frontiers in digital transformation (DT) research by deconstructing the literature's underlying assumptions and analysing their correspondence with current theory. To do so, we conduct a problematization review across the fields of IS, strategy and entrepreneurship, organisation theory and management studies, to capture the multidimensionality of DT research. Unlike systematic literature reviews commonly found in DT research, a problematization review critically questions how theoretical contributions have been constructed in past research to develop novel theoretical questions. Our findings offer three contributions. First, we uncover five research trajectories, each with its own in-house assumptions about the nature of digital technologies and how organisations, groups and individuals interact with those technologies and the data they generate. Second, we show how individual studies within the identified research trajectories position themselves against prior research, pointing at six distinct processes of constructing theoretical contributions. Finally, we mobilise new frontiers of research by questioning DT research field assumptions that cut across the five research trajectories. We conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of our problematization review for further DT research.
Description: Data Availability Statement; The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
URI: https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/29103
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12531
ISSN: 1350-1917
Other Identifiers: ORCiD: Amir Ashrafi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0475-8022
ORCiD: Panos Constantinides https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2728-8975
ORCiD: Jason Bennett Thatcher https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7136-8836
Appears in Collections:Brunel Business School Research Papers

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