Digital “x”—Charting a Path for Digital-Themed Research

Abayomi Baiyere, Varun Grover, Kalle Lyytinen, Stephanie L. Woerner, Alok GuptaInformation Systems数字化转型UTD24

Information Systems Research2023-02-23Copenhagen Business School; Queen's University; University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; Case Western Reserve University; Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDOI

Citations87

We live in a time when digital technologies reshape most aspects of business and social life. This challenges received assumptions about modes of operation in organizations. As a result, scholars and practitioners increasingly use the label “digital” to signify that something has changed to the extent that a plethora of long-established management concepts are expressed in a new formulaic form of “digital x,” and x can stand for innovation, strategy, transformation, infrastructure, etc. In the information systems discipline and beyond, “digital” has emerged as an oft-used conceptual label to characterize age-long phenomena hitherto described by the IT (or x) label. There is a sense among academic and practitioner communities that digital and IT are not mere synonyms, but beyond the hype, something fundamentally different is being signaled when the “digital” label is invoked. This paper traces the intellectual roots and foundations of the growing use of “digital” as a conceptual label, identifies when the label use is warranted as well as outlines implications that the moniker holds for future scholarship, policy, and practice. In particular, the paper offers actionable guidance that enables more reflective use of the term “digital” as we move forward.

Computer sciencePath (computing)World Wide WebData scienceOperating systemDigital Innovation in IndustriesInnovation, Technology, and Society