Information Technology Organizations Research Articles

Development and validation of an instrument to evaluate the perspective of using the electronic health record in a hospital setting

BackgroundEvaluating healthcare information systems, such as the Electronic Health Records (EHR), is both challenging and essential, especially in resource-limited countries. This study aims to psychometrically develop and validate an instrument (questionnaire) to assess the factors influencing the successful adoption of the EHR system by healthcare professionals in Moroccan university hospitals.MethodsThe questionnaire validation process occurred in two main stages. Initially, data collected from a pilot sample of 164 participants underwent analysis using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to evaluate the validity and reliability of the retained factor structure. Subsequently, the validity of the overall measurement model was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a sample of 368 healthcare professionals.ResultsThe structure of the modified HOT-fit model, comprising seven constructs (System Quality, Information Quality, Information technology Service Quality, User Satisfaction, Organization, Environment, and Clinical Performance), was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. Absolute, incremental, and parsimonious fit indices all indicated an appropriate level of acceptability, affirming the robustness of the measurement model. Additionally, the instrument demonstrated adequate reliability and convergent validity, with composite reliability values ranging from 0.75 to 0.89 and average variance extracted (AVE) values ranging from 0.51 to 0.63. Furthermore, the square roots of AVE values exceeded the correlations between different pairs of constructs, and the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) was below 0.85, confirming suitable discriminant validity.ConclusionsThe resulting instrument, due to its rigorous development and validation process, can serve as a reliable and valid tool for assessing the success of information technologies in similar contexts.

Construction of collective self-determination in development-oriented group discussions

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the construction of collective self-determination in development-oriented group discussions. This paper provides empirical understanding of how collective self-determination is constructed in social interaction using certain communication styles.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative data were based on four development-oriented group discussions (totaling 180 min) of supervisors from Finnish central hospital and information and communication technology organization. Participants from hospitals worked as head nurses, while those from information technology organizations worked as leaders and project managers. The data were analysed through interaction and content analyses.FindingsBased on the findings, collective self-determination is constructed in social interaction through speech sections in which individuals’ different speech acts facilitate basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. In collective self-determination, the individual and the collective are emphasized at the same time, meaning that collective self-determination cannot occur without individual-level self-determination.Practical implicationsOrganizations and teams should focus on finding suitable ways to implement collective self-determination and consider the importance of social interaction and certain communication styles. Moreover, employees should be offered enough resources and support to be able to work in collectively self-determined manner.Originality/valueThe study offered an approach to understand self-determination and its construction in group discussions aiming at collective learning. Collective self-determination emphasizes the group and its ability to be autonomous, responsible and capable to learn and to orient toward common goals and tasks. As such, it extends the previous understanding of self-determination as collective-level phenomenon. More research is needed in the context of working life.

Second Version on A Centralized Approach to Reducing Burnouts in the IT industry Using Work Pattern Monitoring Using Artificial Intelligence Using MongoDB Atlas and Python

Industry burnout is interlinked with cultural, individual, physical, or emotional exhaustion, and social factors, the resolution of which requires the technology-driven trends in the workplace and the technologies such as work pattern monitoring and Artificial Intelligence that can deal with large amounts of data. Industries face a gigantic problem i.e., employee burnout which can charge a firm loss in numerous hours and thousands of dollars every year. The more advanced companies use work pattern monitoring using Artificial Intelligence to make their employees work more professionally. In this research my attempts to understand the development and leadership, on the effects of work pattern monitoring using Artificial Intelligence technology on information technology organizations (Sasibhushan Rao Chanthati, 2022). In this updated second version, the data of the employees will be stored on a cloud server with governance & compliances. The study discussed the development of methods which are configured as two different system interfaces, which are of minimum valuable product (MVP) and the results obtained from the two approaches. The system will provide work pattern monitoring via the ‘Real-Time Database – MongoDB Atlas’ which will synchronize the employee burnout data to improve the employee experience. This research also illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed solutions. “Burnout Detection Mechanism” that will help Industry management and Human Resource Management to manage the emotional state of the employees, understanding their real state. The study conducted a self-survey, and the outputs of the surveys are explained in this paper. The sample data we are using is mainly focused on information technology employment perception.

Information technology and business strategic alignment in small and medium organizations: an exploratory study in Mexico

Purpose This qualitative study aims to fill gaps in a widely studied and relevant organizational feature: the alignment between information technologies and business strategies. Design/methodology/approach This research is a qualitative study. The authors used focus groups, content analysis and semantic networks as research approaches to identify the main factors that prevent or foster such alignment. Findings Results reveal a leading role of innovation, organizational culture, access to information and financial factors that could promote or inhibit alignment and competitiveness. Originality/value This research was conducted only in small and medium organizations in Mexico, which represents about 52% of the Mexican Gross Domestic Product (for Mexico as one of the leading trade partners of the USA).

TechMark: a framework for the development, engagement, and motivation of software teams in IT organizations based on gamification.

In today's fast-moving world of information technology (IT), software professionals are crucial for a company's success. However, they frequently experience low motivation as a result of competitive pressures, unclear incentives, and communication gaps. This underscores the critical need to handle these internal marketing challenges such as employee motivation, development, and engagement in IT organizations. Internal marketing practices aiming at attracting, engaging, and inspiring employees to use excellent services have become increasingly important. Internal marketing is attracting, engaging, and motivating employees as internal customers to utilize their quality services. Gamification has emerged as a significant trend over recent years. Despite the expanding use of gamification in the workplace, there is still a lack of focus on internal marketing tactics that incorporate gamification approaches. Thus, addressing the challenges related to employee motivation, development, and engagement is crucial. Therefore, as a principal contribution, this research presents a comprehensive framework designed to implement gamified solutions for software teams of IT organizations. This framework has been tailored to effectively address the challenges posed by internal marketing by optimizing motivation, development, and engagement. Moreover, the framework is applied to design and implement a gamified work portal (GWP) through a systematic process, including the design of low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes. Additionally, the GWP is validated through a quasi-experiment involving IT professionals from different IT organizations to authenticate the effectiveness of framework. Finally, the outclass results obtained by the gamification-based GWP highlight the effectiveness of the proposed gamification approach in enhancing development, motivation, and engagement while fostering ongoing knowledge of the employees.

Examining the relationship between organizational capabilities and business sustainability among start-ups: a dynamic capability view

Purpose Start-ups require a competitive advantage to integrate sustainable practices and develop organizational capabilities to thrive in dynamic business environments. However, implementation of these practices presents several ethical challenges. This study aims to quantify the influence of organizational capabilities (information technology capabilities and organizational virtues) on start-ups' competitive advantage and readiness to implement environmental, social and governance practices. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a survey design, and data were collected from 320 start-up founders and/or managers in India. The data were analyzed using Smart PLS 4.0. Findings The findings suggest that organizational capabilities, including information technology capabilities and organizational virtues, play an important role in enhancing start-ups' competitive advantage and readiness to implement sustainable practices. Dynamic capability mediates these relationships, while entrepreneurial orientation moderates the relationship between organizational virtues and dynamic capability. Practical implications This study has significant implications for organizations implementing sustainable business practices through the development and nurturance of organizational virtues and information technology capabilities. The study is also useful for leaders, managers and entrepreneurs in training and development, managing tradeoffs and maintaining important organizational capabilities to establish a balance between people’s concerns, the environment and profits. Originality/value Few studies have examined the role of organizational capabilities, sustainable business practices and competitive advantage in the context of start-ups. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship and organizational capabilities.

Blockchain-Based Model for Incentivized Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing

Sharing cyber threat intelligence (CTI) can significantly improve the security of information technology (IT) in organizations. However, stakeholders and practitioners are not keen on sharing CTI data due to the risk of exposing their private data and possibly losing value as an organization on the market. We present a model for CTI data sharing that maintains trust and confidentiality and incentivizes the sharing process. The novelty of the proposed model is that it combines two incentive mechanisms: money and reputation. The reputation incentive is important for ensuring trust in the shared CTI data. The monetary incentive is important for motivating the sharing and consumption of CTI data. The incentives are based on a subscription fee and a reward score for activities performed by a user. User activities are considered in the following three fields: producing CTI data, consuming CTI data, and reviewing CTI data. Each instance of user activity is rewarded with a score, and this score generates some value for reputation. An algorithm is proposed for assigning reward scores and for recording the accumulated reputation of the user. This model is implemented on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain and the Interplanetary File System for storing data off-chain. The implemented prototype demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed model. The provided simulation shows that the selected values and the proposed algorithm used to calculate the reward scores are in accordance with economic laws.

The Integration of Information Technology in the Management and Organization of Nursing Care in a Hospital Environment: A Scoping Review.

The adoption of health technologies is occurring on an unprecedented scale, with enormous potential to improve the health of populations. In this context, information technology (IT) in nursing has emerged with a focus on quality and safety of care for the benefit of the patient. There is insufficient reliable evidence demonstrating how the integration of IT in nursing care influences methodologies for managing and organizing care in terms of structure and care practice, justifying a scoping review that synthesizes the knowledge produced so far. Online databases were used to identify papers published in 2012-2023, from which we selected nine publications that used information technology in the nursing care processes. The participants were hospital nurses and nurse managers. The results show that the integration of IT in healthcare organizations impacts the management and organization of nursing care, and changes in structure, process reorganization, management, training, and the development of nurses' skills. To minimize this impact, the organizational structure must be prepared for a cultural change, with well-defined and communicated policies and procedures, and strong leadership. Within the teams, the importance of process reorganization, continuous training, and skill development emerges, thus enhancing the integration of IT into practice environments in conjunction with care.

Gamification as a panacea to workplace cyberloafing: an application of self-determination and social bonding theories

PurposeGamification has been constantly demonstrated as an effective mechanism for employee engagement. However, little is known about how gamification reduces cyberloafing and the mechanism by which it affects cyberloafing in the workplace. This study draws inspiration from self-determination and social bonding theories to explain how game dynamics, namely, personalised challenges, social interactivity and progression status, enhance tacit knowledge sharing behaviour, which, in turn, reduces cyberloafing. In addition, the study also examines the negative moderating effect of fear of failure on the positive relationship between game dynamics and tacit knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 250 employees from information technology organisations, the study employed a 3-wave study to examine the conditional indirect effects.FindingsThe results ascertain that tacit knowledge sharing plays a central role in the relationship between gamification and cyberloafing. Further, game dynamics positively influenced tacit knowledge sharing, which in turn reduced cyberloafing. Especially, social interactivity and progression status greatly reduced cyberloafing behaviour when the fear of failure was low.Originality/valueThis study is one of the initial studies that suggest gamification as a progressive tool to reduce workplace cyberloafing behaviours. It utilises a problematisation approach to analyse and criticise the in-house assumptions regarding cyberloafing prevention measures. Further, the study proposes a conceptual model explaining the link between gamification and cyberloafing through alternate assumptions.

The Influence of Job Stress Towards Turnover Intention among Generation Y Employees in Perak Information Technology

Researchers have been studying turnover intention for nearly a century. Recently, most generation Y workforce in Malaysia's Information Technology (IT) industry reportedly developed a norm of switching jobs constantly due to being increasingly exposed to a lot of work-related stressors. This study aims to investigate the relationship between job stress and turnover intention among generation Y employees in the Perak IT industry. The quantitative approach was used by distributing online questionnaires through the Facebook platform to collect data from a sample of 123 employees drawn from IT companies in Perak, Malaysia. The result revealed that the majority of the respondents are recorded with a high level of job stress and a moderate level of turnover intention. It was found that job stress was significantly positively correlated with turnover intention. Further analysis also demonstrated that the dimensions of job stress such as work overload and work ambiguity were significant influences on turnover intention. Overall, there was a statistically significant positive relationship between job stress and turnover intention among the employees. The findings of this study demonstrated important implications for IT organisations, employees, and Human Resource (HR) practitioners by allowing them to understand the devastating effects of job stress and equip themselves with strategies to reduce turnover rates.

A Review of the Information Technology and Operational Technology Convergence Using Internet of Things within the Circular Economy

Abstract The historical separation of Information Technology and Operational Technology in organizations, particularly in the industrial sector, is being challenged by the digital transformation. This shift towards a converged platform is driven by technological advancements, market pressures, and environmental and regulatory considerations. This paper explores the convergence of Information Technology and Operational Technology through the Internet of Things within the Circular Economy. A comprehensive overview of the current scientific literature is provided using a systematic review method. Initially, the evolving landscape of the Information Technology and Operational Technology integration is reviewed, then Internet of Things and Circular Economy are presented. The findings of this study include the challenges of the converged solution implementation, such as the technical integration complexities, cybersecurity risks, organizational and cultural barriers, and workforce skills gap. Furthermore, the role of the Internet of Things is demonstrated using novel smart circular loops, products, and applications showcasing innovative ideas such as product-as-a-service models, digital circular practices, products with embedded sensors, energy harvesting, and modular and upgrade capabilities as well as novel digital factory use cases such as smart manufacturing and industrial symbiosis networks. The key findings also outline the best practices and recommendations for a successful implementation of this converged infrastructure, highlighting the importance of a strategic implementation and cross-domain collaboration to achieve operational efficiency and environmental sustainability. The insights provided in this paper are valuable for academics, practitioners, and policymakers aimed to understand and harness the digital technologies for advancing sustainable practices towards a smart circular economy.

Synergizing Quality and Legislative Software Requirements: A Holistic Approach Across the Software Product Lifecycle

Abstract This scientific research investigates the intricate interplay between quality assurance and legislative software requirements, focusing on the holistic integration of these critical components across the software product lifecycle within the realm of Information Technology (IT). As software development and deployment continue to be shaped by an evolving regulatory landscape and an increasing emphasis on quality, the need to align these two pillars becomes fundamental to the success and compliance of software solutions. This study aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the challenges, opportunities, and strategies associated with synergizing software quality and legislative requirements, thereby offering valuable insights for IT practitioners, organizations, and policymakers. The research delves into the diverse stages of the software product lifecycle, encompassing requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance, and explores the implications of legislative compliance on each phase. By synthesizing industry standards, regulatory frameworks, and best practices, this study seeks to offer a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted landscape of legislative software requirements and their integration with quality imperatives. Moreover, the research endeavours to provide actionable recommendations and key strategies to support IT practitioners and decision-makers in enhancing their software development practices to meet the dynamic demands of regulatory compliance and quality assurance.

An Integrated Framework for Addressing the Challenges and Strategies of Technology Adoption: A Systematic Review

While the rapid growth of information technology (IT) adoption has not lessened, insufficient attention has been directed towards the major themes and sub-themes of IT adoption challenges. Consequently, this study consists of a systematic literature review of the challenges of technology adoption based on a total of 235 peer-reviewed articles from the business and management literature between 2012-2022. Our longitudinal study provides an integrated framework for matching IT challenges to organizational strategies for transforming IT practices and processes. The results of the review broaden scholarly understanding of the importance of strategic IT agility, the need to keep pace with competitive information systems and IT environments. The findings enhance understanding of the pre-change and post-change processes of IT adoption, expanding knowledge on adoption success and organizational strategies for achieving IT strategic agility. Three key contributions include closing gaps not explored in comparative studies, adopting a unified approach with an integrated research model, and strategies to enhance an organization's absorptive IT capacity and agility. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-03-025 Full Text: PDF

Top IT Challenges in ARL Libraries

The practice of information technology (IT) in academic libraries is changing rapidly, not only with new and evolving developments in the technologies themselves but also with the organization and management of IT at both the library and institution levels. This study presents the results of an online survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) academic library members to identify the biggest challenges they perceive in the area of information technology organization and management. This article compares their responses with challenges reported in earlier studies to identify new and changing trends as well as ongoing challenges that remain.

Enhancing employees’ creative performance by giving developmental feedback

PurposeThe principal objective of this current research is to explore and test an underlying mechanism to solve the inconsistent relationship between supervisors’ developmental feedback and employee creativity. This study also tests the moderating role of absorptive capacity in fully understanding the relationship between two constructs.Design/methodology/approachA time-lagged survey was utilized to collect data from 317 employees working at information technology (IT) organizations in Vietnam. This research conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThis research found that employees’ operational skills fully mediated the link between supervisors’ developmental feedback and employees’ creative performance. Moreover, absorptive capacity positively moderated the relationship between supervisors’ developmental feedback and employees’ operational skills as well as the relationship between employees’ operational skills and employee creativity.Originality/valueThis research is one of the first papers to discuss the mediating role of employees’ operational skills in associating supervisors’ developmental feedback with employee creativity in response to the calls of previous studies. To fully comprehend the indirect impact of supervisors' developmental feedback on workers' creative performance, this research also examines the moderating influence of absorptive capacity at the individual level.

Effectiveness of Tax Benefits for Information Technology Organizations in Russia

The subject of the study is a set of measures of tax incentives for the information technology industry in the Russian Federation — “tax maneuver in IT”, launched from the beginning of 2021. The purpose of the study is to identify and qualitatively assess the stimulating effect of the tax maneuver in IT, which is expressed in changes in key financial and natural performance indicators of IT industry organizations, and to develop proposals on ways of tax incentives for the development of the industry. The article describes the distortion of the aggregate tax reporting characterizing the IT industry, which takes into account not only recently established IT organizations, but also “nominal” separates from large organizations IT subdivisions or technically clarified classification code, making it inappropriate to use such reporting as a basis for analysis and reliable conclusions. Based on the data of the public financial statements of selected sample from the top-100 Russian IT organizations, the article analyzes the dynamics of financial indicators of their activities, among which are the profiles of profiles, operating profit, net profit, investment in basic assets, the number of staff, the amount of products supplied for export, the capitalization of the company. The observation was conducted for 2017– 2022 and covers the periods both before and during the engagement of tax benefits. A comparative study was carried out with similar indicators of the organizations of the “control group”, which included IT companies operating in other countries that were not affected by such tax benefits. According to the results of the study, small or no extra growth was observed in key financial indicators of IT organizations due to the tax maneuver compared with the “pre-maneuver” period and compared with the indicators of the control group. It is concluded that there is no evidence of a significant impact of the tax maneuver on the development of the IT industry in Russia. We proposed dismantling of the “maneuver” and transition, based on the Chinese and some EU countries approaches, to taxation of the qualified profit. The latter is the profit of Russian and foreign IT developers from the localization of IT development and value creation in Russia. The achievable effective rate is 2.5%.

DevOps Metrics and KPIs: A Multivocal Literature Review

Context: Information Technology organizations are aiming to implement DevOps capabilities to fulfill market, customer, and internal needs. While many are successful with DevOps implementation, others still have difficulty measuring DevOps success in their organization. As a result, the effectiveness of assessing DevOps remains erratic. This emphasizes the need to withstand management in measuring the implementation process with suitable DevOps Metrics. But what are these metrics? Objective: This research seeks to provide relevant DevOps Metrics to facilitate the efficiency of DevOps adoption and better analyze DevOps performance in enterprises. Method: A Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) is conducted, with 139 documents gathered and thoroughly examined from throughout the community, including books, scientific articles, white papers, conferences, among others. Results: This article conducts an extensive and rigorous MLR, contributing with a definition of DevOps Metrics, 22 main metrics, their definitions, importance, and categorization in sets of Key Performance Indicators, as well as exposing clear indicators on how to improve them. It is also discussed how metrics could be put into practice and what constitutes a change in the context of DevOps Metrics. The study’s outcomes will assist researchers and practitioners understand DevOps Metrics and how to better implement them.

Modelling the enablers of productivity of enterprise-level Agile software development process using modified TISM approach

Purpose This study aims to examine the enablers of productivity of enterprise-level Agile development process using modified total interpretative structural modeling (TISM). The two main objectives of the current study are to determine the variables influencing enterprise-level agile development productivity and to develop modified TISM for the corresponding components. Design/methodology/approach To identify enablers of the productivity of enterprise-level agile software development process a literature review and opinions of domain experts were collected. A hierarchical relationship among variables that show direct and indirect influence is created using the modified TISM (M-TISM) technique with Cross Impact Matrix-Multiplication Applied to Classification analysis. This study examined and analyzed the relationships between the determinants within the enterprise using a M-TISM technique. Findings With the literature review, the study could identify ten enabling factors of the productivity of Agile development process at the enterprise level. Results depict that program increment (PI) planning and scalable backlog management, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), agile release trains (ART), agile work culture, delivery excellence, lean and DevOps practices, value stream mapping (VMS), team skills and expertise, collaborative culture, agile coaching, customer engagement have an impact on the productivity of enterprise-level Agile development process. The results show that team collaboration, agile ways of working and customer engagement have a greater impact on productivity improvement for enterprise-level Agile development process. Research limitations/implications The developed model is useful for organizations employing scaled Agile development processes in software development. This study provides a recommended listing of key enablers, that may enable productivity improvements in the Agile development process at the enterprise level. Strategists should focus on team collaboration and Agile project management. This study offers a modified TISM model to academicians to help them understand the effects of numerous variables on maintaining the productivity of an enterprise-level Agile. The identified characteristics and their hierarchical structure can help project managers during the execution of Agile projects at the enterprise level, more effectively, increasing their success and productivity. Originality/value The study addresses the gap in the literature by interpretative relationships between the identified enabling factors. The model validation is carried out by a panel of nine experts from several information technology organizations deploying Agile software development at the enterprise level. This unique method broadens the knowledge base in Agile software development at scale and provides project managers and practitioners with a practical foundation.

Issues of Interaction Between Operational and Strategic Management of an Enterprise in a Market Environment

Main problem: One of the priority directions for improving the management system at the enterprise is the organization of effective interaction between strategic and operational management through the formation of a mechanism for their interaction, orienting operational management to achieve strategic goals and objectives. In market conditions, issues of interaction between strategic and operational production management are particularly relevant, allowing solving complex economic problems of the enterprise related to the rational use of resources involved in production, reducing production costs, improving the quality of products, optimizing production potential in order to increase the efficiency of the entire enterprise as a whole and its structural divisions. The role of the mechanism of interaction between strategic and operational production management also lies in the possibility of coordinating those final strategic goals that the enterprise strives for with the actual internal production capabilities. The purpose of this article is to study the issues of interaction between operational and strategic management of an enterprise in a market environment. The theory and modern practice of production management in a competitive environment show that the implementation of operational production management is a natural stage in the implementation of strategic management, therefore, there is a close relationship between them, which manifests itself in their interaction. Methods: The methods of analysis and generalization, the method of systematic and comparative analysis, structural and functional method, economic and mathematical methods, graphical and tabular method were used in the work. Results and their significance: the authors consider the theoretical aspects of the relationship between strategic and operational production management at an enterprise in a competitive environment. There is a low level of compliance of operational tasks of production with the strategic goals of development of domestic enterprises and the special role of information systems designed to link operational and strategic management tasks together. Accordingly, the key aspects of information technology implementation are investigated, including the need for employee training, strategic communications planning, information flow management and the use of data analytics. Examples of successful application of information technologies in various industries and organizations are given.

Digital transformation in ecosystems: integrated operations model and its application to fifth-party logistics operators

Purpose The logistics industry has undergone a tremendous transformation. This transformation is necessary to cope with the fundamental changes in customer expectations and the need for digitalization imposed by the pandemic, changes in the socioeconomic world, and innovative technology solutions. This paper aims to present digital transformation as an integrated framework for transforming the operating model and applying advanced solutions to the ecosystem of a quintile logistics (5PL) company. 5PL operators are typically an ecosystem. Loosely coupled or self-organized entities that collaborate in a symbiotic relationship represent this ecosystem. They aim to jointly develop capabilities, create innovative services or solutions, share knowledge, facilitate transactions, and leverage network synergies in a logistics environment to provide optimized or novel customer- or partner-centric solutions (Lamberjohann and Otto, 2020). Design/methodology/approach Currently, there is no single definition of an integrated logistics operations model in 5PL practice, so the qualitative method used in this paper allows for investigation from an exploratory perspective. The paper follows a qualitative research methodology, collecting and analyzing data/facts through interviews and visits to subject matter experts, industry practitioners, and academic researchers, combined with an extensive review of academic publications, industry reports, and written and media content from established organizations in the marketplace. This paper follows a qualitative research methodology, as it is an inquiry rather than a statistical study. The qualitative method allows the study of the concepts of phenomena and definitions, their characteristics, and the defining features that serve as the basis (Berg, 2007). It emphasizes generalized interpretation and deeper understanding of concepts, which would be more difficult in quantitative, statistically based research. Fact-finding was conducted in two ways: in-depth interviews with experts from academia, information and communication technology organizations, and key players in the logistics industry; and academic publications, industry reports, and written and media content from established national and international organizations in the market. Findings The operations model introduced considers six aspects: persons, processes, platforms, partners, protection and preservation. A virtual team approach can support the personal side of the 5PL ecosystem’s digital transformation. Managing a 5PL ecosystem should be based on collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment methods (Parsa et al., 2020). A digital platform can support trust among the stakeholders in the ecosystem. A blockchain solution can powerfully support the 5PL ecosystem from partner relationships’ points of view. The implementation of a cybersecurity reference model is important for protection (Bandari, 2023). Reverse logistics and an integrated approach support the preservation of the ecosystem. Research limitations/implications While the author has experience applying the different components of the operations model presented, it would be interesting to find a 5PL that would use all the components presented in an integrated way. The operations model presented applies to any similar ecosystem with minor adaptations. Practical implications This paper addresses operations models and digital transformation challenges for optimizing 5PL operators. It provides several opportunities and considerations for 5PL operators interested in improving their management and operations to cope with the growing challenges of today’s world. Social implications The competitiveness and long-term performance of 5PL operators depend on selecting and carefully implementing their operations models. This paper emphasizes the importance of using advanced operations models. Originality/value The operations model derives from the author’s personal experiences in research and the innovative application of these models to logistics operators (DHL, UPS, Poste Italiane and others). This paper brings together academic and industry perspectives and operations models in an integrated business digital transformation. This paper defines an original optimal operations model for a 5PL operator and can add sustainable value to organizations and society. In doing so, it outlines different solution requirements, the critical success factors and the challenges for solutions and brings logistical performance objectives when implementing a digital business transformation.