How Digital Transformation Influences Employee Outcomes: The Moderating Role of CEO Experience

Abstract

This study examines whether a firm’s use of digital transformation influences employee work-related outcomes such as affective commitment, psychological safety, and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior and how chief executive officer (CEO) challenge experience alters the relationship between digital transformation and the employee outcomes. Based on 947 employees nested in 46 subsidiary firms, our multilevel analysis shows that, on average, the usage of a firm’s digital transformation is negatively related to employee’s affective commitment and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. However, we find that the negative effects of digital transformation on the three employee outcomes are buffered when the firms have a CEO with more challenge experiences. Our theory and findings suggest that the employment of CEOs with more challenge experiences can play an important role in weakening the negative effect of digital transformation on employee outcomes under the fourth industrial revolution, contributing to the literature on digital transformation, stress, and CEO experiences.