The social representation of digital transformation: The IT professionals’ perspective

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to identify how Information Technology professionals make sense of digital transformation, in order to compare this perception with the scientific literature on the topic. To conduct the research, we adopted the Social Representation Theory. Thus, via an online tool, we applied the words evocation technique as well as an ancillary questionnaire comprising open and closed questions. The expressions collected were then semantically treated and categorized, being then analyzed vis-à-vis their frequency of evocation, relevance, connectedness, and cooccurrence. Then, we performed similarity and content analyses for the open answers received. In doing so, we detected dissonance between scientific production on the concept of digital transformation and the perception of Information Technology professionals on this construct, concluding that such professionals have a technocentric view of digital transformation, based mainly on its technological aspects, which can prevent digital transformation initiatives from fully achieving the desired objectives.

Keywords

• Digital transformation
• Information technology professionals
• Social representation theory
• Words evocation
• Similarity analysis