IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/cemjpp/cemj-11-2024-0346.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are we ready for digital transformation? The role of organizational culture, leadership and competence in building digital advantage

Author

Listed:
  • Szymon Cyfert
  • Wojciech Dyduch
  • Witold Szumowski
  • Gunnar Prause

Abstract

Purpose - The development of ITC technologies, the emergence of novel digital business models, the growing imperative for cybersecurity assurance and the phenomenon of digital disruption caused by unexpected crises force companies to rethink and redefine their strategies. Nevertheless, empirical evidence is not fully consistent with the prevailing opinion among management practitioners that technology is a crucial factor in ensuring the digital transformation’s effectiveness. The article identifies the reasons for the limited level of readiness of contemporary organizations for digital transformation, highlighting the role of the organization’s soft components. Design/methodology/approach - Addressing the complexity of digitizing phenomena, the article presents the role of organizational culture, digital leadership and digital competencies in organizational transformation processes. Findings - By emphasizing the significance of an organization’s soft components in the context of digital transformation, we suggest that while technological advancement constitutes a crucial aspect of this process, it is not the mere implementation of technological solutions that is paramount to its efficacy. The crux of the matter lies in the transformation of soft management factors, encompassing the provision of digital leadership, the cultivation of digital competencies and the establishment of a digital organizational culture. Originality/value - While digital transformation ultimately necessitates action in the area of infrastructure, the advantages of transformation will only be fully realized once an adequate level of maturity has been attained in an organization’s soft components. Although some researchers propose that the initial step in the digital transformation process should be to establish a digital organizational culture and subsequently develop digital capabilities, we present an alternative approach. It suggests that the establishment of digital leadership should initiate the development of the required digital competencies, which, when combined with digital leadership, will force a transformation of the organizational culture.

Suggested Citation

  • Szymon Cyfert & Wojciech Dyduch & Witold Szumowski & Gunnar Prause, 2025. "Are we ready for digital transformation? The role of organizational culture, leadership and competence in building digital advantage," Central European Management Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(2), pages 219-231, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:cemjpp:cemj-11-2024-0346
    DOI: 10.1108/CEMJ-11-2024-0346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/CEMJ-11-2024-0346/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/CEMJ-11-2024-0346/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/CEMJ-11-2024-0346?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:cemjpp:cemj-11-2024-0346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.