Abstract
Current research on digitalization often takes a strategic or change management perspective. More recently, research has pointed to continuous development as essential in digitally enabled change. However, less is known about how continuous development evolves, and how organizational actors interact during continuous development. Our research questions are: (i) which patterns of interaction can we identify in the continuous development of digitalization, and (ii) how can incumbent firms suc- ceed in digitalization through continuous development?
We conduct a longitudinal case study of a large grid company, and explore their approach to digitali- zation through continuous development. Applying a sense-making and sense-giving lens, we identify a generic pattern of interaction in continuous digitalization in incumbent firms. Key actors in the pat- tern are the middle management. We identify two interlinked cycles, one for the top management and one for the operational level. Our model highlights new and surprising insight on sense-making and sense-giving in relation to change and digitalization in incumbent firms.
Recommended Citation
Osmundsen, Karen and Bygstad, Bendik, "PATTERNS OF INTERACTION: MAKING SENSE OF DIGITALIZATION IN INCUMBENT FIRMS" (2020). 11th Scandinavian Conference on Information Systems. 7.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/scis2020/7