Type of Publication: Article in Collected Edition

A Flow-oriented Approach to Understand Digital Transformation: An illustrative Case Analysis

Author(s):

Plattfaut, Ralf; Kautz, Karlheinz

Title of Anthology:

Proceedings of the 36th Australasian Conference on Information Systems

Publication Date:

2025

Keywords:

Alternative Understanding of Digital Transformation Flow-Orientation Genealogical Research Approach

Link to complete version:

https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2025/16/

Citation:

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Abstract

We position this paper as a provocation in the term's positive sense as a challenge that is intended to prompt discussion and/or action. In our case the challenge is to overcome theoretical and research methodological orthodoxies in the information systems (IS) community. Inspired by the alternative research approach of problematization we utilize the unconventional theoretical framing of flow-orientation to understand digital transformation. Instead of a traditional understanding through analysing deliberate actions of specific actors, flow-orientation offers a complementary vocabulary of timing, attentionality, and undergoing, which supports a temporal understanding of digital transformation as the result of corresponding flows of action. We demonstrate the perspective's value with an empirical case of an ongoing digital transformation. Our work also provides practitioners with an alternative approach to managing digital transformation, which supports them in cultivating the dynamics of favourable circumstances under which transformative possibilities can be created, sensed, and actualized at timely moments.