Distinguishing digitization and digitalization: A systematic review and conceptual framework

With increasing interest in how digital technology impacts innovation, the constructs “digitization” and “digitalization” have become popular. However, different conceptualizations have emerged resulting in conceptual overlap and little definitional consensus. To understand how these two constructs...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gradillas, M. (María)|||/items/a4645e50-e285-40a0-809d-c590c3131650, Thomas, L.D.W. (Llewellyn D.W.)|||/items/9e3716aa-a56a-4ed5-95de-22800c5bca5f
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Navarra
Repositorio:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/69235
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10171/69235
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Digital transformation
Digitalization
Digitization
Innovation
Systematic review
Descripción
Sumario:With increasing interest in how digital technology impacts innovation, the constructs “digitization” and “digitalization” have become popular. However, different conceptualizations have emerged resulting in conceptual overlap and little definitional consensus. To understand how these two constructs have been used within innovation management, we systematically review both constructs and identify 26 different definitions used for both, underscoring the need for greater precision. Building from our systematic review, we synthesize and integrate these findings to derive clear and parsimonious definitions of digitization and digitalization and propose a conceptual framework that systematically links both constructs with existing innovation scholarship. We then discuss the implications of our framework on theories of the process of innovation and digital transformation. We recommend future research into digital design principles, digital product life cycle, knowledge accumulation, generativity, and the feedback dynamics within our framework. We also provide practitioner implications and limitations.