The digital imperative: Institutional pressures to digitalise

Amelie Bennich

Technology in Society, 2024, vol. 76, issue C

Abstract: This paper addresses the ‘digital imperative’ and how organisations are pressured to digitalise. In comparison to previous studies that often emphasise market pressures to digitalise, this paper focuses on institutional pressures exerted on organisations that lack competitive pressures. By drawing upon institutional theory, which considers the social embeddedness of organisations, it acknowledges that social expectations and approval can shape the way organisations respond to technological change. Based on a study of digitalisation within the water sector, where the perceived benefits of digital technologies are advocated under the label of ‘digital water’, it shows that there are isomorphic processes in place through which the idea of digital water is legitimised. Hence, water utilities are under institutional pressures to digitalise which, in turn, can influence how they respond to digitalisation.

Keywords: Digitalisation; Digital imperative; Institutional theory; Institutional pressures; Water sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:76:y:2024:i:c:s0160791x23002415

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102436

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