The Institutional Logic of Digitalization

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openAccess

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Volume Title

A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa

Date

2022-09-23

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Language

en

Pages

17
235-251

Series

Digital Transformation and Institutional Theory, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Volume 83

Abstract

Digital technologies have fundamentally changed organizations, industries, and even the society. Although institutional theory provides rich array of perspectives to both the content and dynamics of such changes, research at the intersection of institutional scholarship and digitalization has remained scarce. In this essay, I draw on the institutional logics perspective to elaborate digitalization as involving a new set of interconnected managerial beliefs and norms, organizational practices, and diverse material and social structures that together complement and challenge the established logics in organizations and institutional fields. I draw attention to two central organizing principles in the logic of digitalization: the pursuit of digital omniscience – the efforts to represent and conceive the world through digital data – and digital omnipotence – the efforts to bring activities inside and outside organizations under the control of information systems. I conclude the essay by elaborating how the institutional logics perspective can help understand organization-level efforts to leverage digitalization by incumbent corporations and new digital-native companies.

Description

Funding Information: I am grateful for the editorial team for commissioning this essay and for Thomas Gegenhuber in particular for detailed comments to a late draft; without his works, the omissions and mistakes would be more glaring. I would like to specifically thank Nelson Phillips, Farah Kodeih, J.P. Vergne, and Vern Glaser for their insightful comments on prior versions of this manuscript that helped me refocus and strengthen the essay. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by Henri Schildt.

Keywords

data-driven management, digital transformation, digitalization, information technology, Institutional logics, practice-driven institutionalism

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Citation

Schildt , H 2022 , The Institutional Logic of Digitalization . in Digital Transformation and Institutional Theory . Research in the Sociology of Organizations , vol. 83 , Emerald , pp. 235-251 . https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000083010