Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Digital transformation (DT) is increasingly recognised as a complex and intricate process. However, research has so far backgrounded the visual dimension through which DT is continuously (re-)produced. Drawing on a visual analysis of 176 figures from 138 DT papers, we show that academic figures are not neutral illustrations but perform particular assumptions about how DT unfolds and how it can be managed. Using a three-level coding structure, we link granular visual elements (e.g., boxes, arrows, lines) to recurrent visual grammars and, ultimately, to five classes of how DT is visually performed. This mapping reveals dominant styles of visualising DT and highlights how they perform assumptions about the complexity, temporality, and managerial controllability of DT. Our study provides the first systematic account of DT visualisations and, more broadly, opens the visual layer of academic theorising as an analytical domain for IS research, inviting greater visual reflexivity in authoring and reviewing practices.
Authors: Schlömer, Nina, Gersch, Martin
Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7162046897