How Employees Experience Digital Transformation: A Dynamic and Multi-layered Sensemaking Perspective

Annemiek Van der Schaft, Xander D. Lub, Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden, Omar Solinger

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The capacity to deal with digital transformation is a valuable asset for established organizations, and employees play a crucial role in this process. This study contributes to the understanding of employees’ sensemaking of digital transformation in the tour operating industry. Using prior digital transformation research, construal-level theory (CLT), and dynamic change perspectives, our scholarly work focuses on the complexities of organizational change in a digital transformation context. Although employees generally support digital transformation, our findings show that their perceptions change over time across a range of specific challenges experienced during the employee change journey. Our findings stress the importance of adopting a social exchange lens in digital transformation knowledge as this represents deep structure change that might cause well-designed transformation processes to fail. Implications for hospitality and tourism management are discussed
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)803-820
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Hospitality and Tourism Research
Volume48
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is part of a PhD trajectory that is financially supported by Breda University of Applied Sciences, Reiswerk and CELTH (Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality).

FundersFunder number
CELTH
Centre of Expertise Leisure
Reiswerk
Laurea University of Applied Sciences

    Keywords

    • organizational change
    • Technological change
    • sense making
    • change recipient
    • change experience
    • Qualitative

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