Framing the Digital Transformation: Evidence from Taiwan

Abstract

This paper examines the framing of the digital transformation, which has recently been emphasized increasingly through various organizations around the world. We apply framing theory to emphasize the use of languages and vocabularies in the strategic change process. Within our empirical setting of Taiwan, we use topic modeling approach to recognize framing structures. Our data sources are both secondary (newspaper and magazine articles) and primary (12 interviews). We identified five linguistic framings that Taiwanese sectors and organizations typically use to legitimatize their move toward digitalization: cross-field integration, demand orientation, smart cloud platform, international competition, and R&D innovation. We also find that organizations’ choice of framings is shaped by the firms’ characteristics, referred to as publicly governed entities, traditional private business, or technology-based ventures.