Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented acceleration of digital transformation across public and private sector organizations (Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2021; Battisti et al., 2022). In Alberta, Canada, organizations compressed years of technological implementation into weeks, requiring employees to rapidly adapt to remote platforms, cloud-based systems, and automated workflows (Reuschl et al., 2022; Vial, 2021). While IT adoption and organizational change are well studied in stable environments (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003), less is known about how employees cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally adapted to crisis-driven technological change (Bauwens et al., 2021).

This developmental study integrates Institutional Entrepreneurship (DiMaggio, 1988; Battilana, 2006), Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model (Kotter, 1996), and the Coping Model of User Adaptation (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005) to examine how employees in Alberta experienced and responded to pandemic-accelerated IT implementation. Using qualitative narrative inquiry within a comparative multi-case design (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Yin, 2018), the study will generate rich accounts from twenty employees across public and private sectors. The research extends change management and user adaptation theory into crisis contexts and contributes to understanding digital resilience under uncertainty.

Keywords: digital transformation; COVID-19; organizational change; employee adaptation; institutional entrepreneurship; narrative inquiry; public and private sectors

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Organisational Transformation, Change and Development

Keywords: Change Management

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Mr. Nkem Onyegbula