Digital Transformation in Complex Systems – Implications and Avenues for Further Research

Abstract

Many complex systems increasingly include embedded digital technologies that are interacting with and constrained by physical components and systems. Although these systems play a central role in our society, they are ignored in contemporary research on digital transformation and innovation. Based on a longitudinal study of avionics development since the 1960s in the aviation industry, this paper explores the digital transformation and digital innovation in CoPS and its associated aspects. The findings emphasize the evolutionary nature of digital transformation and outlines the implications of the embeddedness of digital technologies in complex systems. These include (1) complexity emerging beyond human cognition, (2) tensions between criticality and generativity aspects, (3) multifaceted organizational designs and mirroring, (4) implications for openness with different time horizons and on different levels, e.g. related to open source and communities, and (5) integration capabilities and behaviors in the context of ecosystems (6) new conditions for decision making in an expanding design context. The paper contributes with important new insights and outlines several avenues for further research related to these issues.