Sensemaking of digital transformation in service industries

This article addresses the research demand for a holistic perspective on the phe-nomenon digital transformation. To date, the literature is highly fragmented, as most articles focus on domain-, topic-, or technology-specific questions, define the phenom-enon of digital transformation differently, and do not aggregate findings on a higher conceptual level. The aim of this article is to develop an empirically founded, normative framework of digital transformation. Applying an abductive research design, it inte-grates various perspectives on digital transformation from different research domains, and the findings of a single case study in the service industry on executives’ digital transformation sensemaking. The resulting holistic framework shows that digital trans-formation represents a socio-technical change process, which is triggered by the application of digital technologies, creating affordances for market actors and affecting core elements of organizations, competitive landscapes, markets, and societies. The ar-ticle advances the limited strategic service management literature, offering a profound understanding of the triggers, mechanisms, and effects of digital transformation. Fur-thermore, it enables executives to introspectively investigate their own sensemaking approaches and increase their awareness of other sensemaking approaches, which helps to reduce misunderstandings and conflict in the executives’ strategic decision making.