Abstract
Readiness for change (RFC) has traditionally been conceptualised as a psychological state assessed prior to implementation and is mostly used to predict the success of organisational change initiatives. This assumption becomes increasingly problematic in digital transformation (DT), where change doesn’t occur as a bounded intervention but as an ongoing and continuous reconfiguration of technologies, roles, and work practices. Empirical studies have repeatedly reported fluctuating engagement, emergent resistance, and change fatigue even when organisations appear to be ready initially, suggesting limitations in prevailing readiness models and raising questions about what readiness represents and comprises of in continuous change environments.
This paper reinterprets RFC as a phenomenon evolved during transformation rather than existing before it. Based on an integrative synthesis of organisational change, digital transformation, and sociotechnical systems research, the study develops a theory building framework which explains how readiness emerges, stabilises, weakens and erodes over time. Instead of aggregating antecedents, the analysis identifies a recurring generative mechanism i.e., alignment across organisational systems which include strategy, governance arrangements, and digital infrastructure, team-level processes encompassing coordination, workflow adaptation, and collective sensemaking), and individual responses like engagement, anxiety, and resistance. Readiness is conceptualised as temporary stabilisation of these interdependent elements, whereas instability in participation and commitment is caused by the persistent misalignment of these configurations during DT. The framework contributes to organisational transformation research in multiple ways. To start, it shifts RFC from an individual attitude to a dynamic sociotechnical outcome being shaped by ongoing interaction between structures, practices, and experiences. Next, it explains contradictory findings in digital transformation studies by clarifying why readiness deviates during prolonged change and not remaining stable after initial implementation. Lastly, it integrates multilevel perspectives by proposing cross-level alignment as the mechanism which connects organisational arrangements with employee responses. By positioning readiness as an emergent property of ongoing organisational alignment, the paper provides a process-oriented explanation of participation in continuous change environments and explains why managerial attempts to build readiness often fail when structural conditions remain inconsistent. The study also offers a conceptual foundation for examining change in contexts where implementation and adaptation are happening simultaneously, which is a defining characteristic of contemporary DT.