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Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics

Daniel Schallmo ·
Abayomi Baiyere · Frank Gertsen ·
Claus Andreas Foss Rosenstand ·
Christopher A. Williams Editors

Digital Disruption
and Transformation
Case Studies, Approaches, and Tools
Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics
Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics brings the most current research
presented at conferences and workshops to a global readership. The series features
volumes (in electronic and print formats) of selected contributions from conferences
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This book series is indexed in SCOPUS.
Daniel Schallmo · Abayomi Baiyere ·
Frank Gertsen · Claus Andreas Foss Rosenstand ·
Christopher A. Williams
Editors

Digital Disruption
and Transformation
Case Studies, Approaches, and Tools
Editors
Daniel Schallmo Abayomi Baiyere
Institute for Entrepreneurship Copenhagen Business School
Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences Frederiksberg, Denmark
Neu-Ulm, Germany
Claus Andreas Foss Rosenstand
Frank Gertsen Aalborg University
Aalborg University Aalborg, Denmark
Aalborg, Denmark

Christopher A. Williams
IU International University of Applied
Sciences
Augsburg, Germany

ISSN 2198-7246 ISSN 2198-7254 (electronic)

Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics
ISBN 978-3-031-47887-1 ISBN 978-3-031-47888-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47888-8

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Preface

Today’s global, digital economy requires a holistic view on digitalization and has
become central for all non-profit and for-profit institutions. In this special issue,
we address key digitalization challenges from company, institutional, industry, and
societal perspectives and how these can create our common innovation future.
This special volume presents current academic research and practical findings,
covering the field of digitalization. Included contributions are (1) The Evolution of
Digital Transformation; (2) Skills and Knowledges expected in Digital Transfor-
mation’s era; (3) Digital Transformation of Business Model: The Case of Israeli
HealthTech; (4) Digital business models and financial performance: On the impor-
tance of business renewal; (5) Digital Innovations and transformation in the Public
Sector of Panama; (6) Platform-Based Interorganizational Learning for Business
Model Innovation: Case Study AgilHybrid; (7) Data-Driven Foresight in Life Cycle
Management: An interview study; (8) Digital disruption – how medical doctors
employ influencer marketing strategies; (9) The transformation of the accounting
profession within a digitalized economy and the impact on accounting education;
and (10) SMEs’ Innovation Leveraged by Digital Transformation During Covid-19.
We hope that the Special Issue stimulates an intensive discussion between scien-
tists, lecturers, and students from the fields of digitalization and disruption, and that
the content will be used in research and teaching. We wish practitioners from the
areas of management, strategic planning, and business development to be able to
apply the insights to successfully practice digitalization and thus take advantage of
the digital potential within their business model and industry.
The editors will like to thank the Springer team and everyone who was involved in
the typesetting and design. In particular, we like to thank Mr. Prashanth Mahagaonkar
from Springer, and our research assistant at the University of Applied Sciences Neu-
Ulm, Verena Mattes, for their valuable input and for their willingness to be at our
side with advice and action at any time.

v
vi Preface

On behalf of all authors, we wish the readers of the compilation a great deal of
knowledge and success in their work on digitalization.

Neu-Ulm, Germany Prof. Dr. Daniel Schallmo

Frederiksberg, Denmark Prof. Dr. Abayomi Baiyere
Aalborg, Denmark Prof. Dr. Frank Gertsen
Aalborg, Denmark Ass. Prof. Dr. Claus Andreas Foss Rosenstand
Augsburg, Germany Prof. Dr. Christopher A. Williams
October 2023
Contents

The Evolution of Digital Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Cheng Gong, Xavier Parisot, and Detlef Reis
Skills and Knowledges Expected in Digital Transformation’s Era . . . . . . 33
Antonios Kargas, Elena C. Gkika, Dimitris Papakyriakopoulos,
Faidon Komisopoulos, and Spyridon Filios
Digital Transformation of Business Model: The Case of Israeli
HealthTech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Tal Berman, Daniel Schallmo, and Christopher A. Willams
Digital Business Models and Financial Performance: On
the Importance of Business Renewal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Minna Saunila, Juhani Ukko, Tero Rantala, Mira Holopainen,
and Mina Nasiri
Digital Innovations and Transformation in the Public Sector
of Panama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Laura Martinez
Platform-Based Interorganizational Learning for Business Model
Innovation: Case Study AgilHybrid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Thomas Trabert, Caroline Große, Sebastian Beiner, Tobias Göcke,
Claudia Lehmann, and Steffen Kinkel
Data-Driven Foresight in Life Cycle Management: An Interview
Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Marie Scheuffele, Niklas Bayrle-Kelso, and Leo Brecht
Digital Disruption—How Medical Doctors Employ Influencer
Marketing Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Andrea Kanzler

vii
viii Contents

The Transformation of the Accounting Profession Within

a Digitalized Economy and the Impact on Accounting Education . . . . . . . 173
Sofia Asonitou
SMEs Innovation Leveraged by Digital Transformation During
Covid-19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Elaine Mosconi and Caroline Blais
The Evolution of Digital Transformation

Cheng Gong , Xavier Parisot, and Detlef Reis

Abstract The evolution of digital transformation (DT) poses a significant challenge

for organizations worldwide, representing both disruptive difficulties and tremendous
opportunities for renewing value offerings, business models, and organizational prac-
tices. To use DT as an impetus for positive change, however, it is critical that scholars
and practitioners have a clear, unified understanding of the concept. We structure our
discussion as follows: Sect. 1 of this chapter discusses the confusion around the
concept “digital transformation” and its related concepts (i.e., digitization, digital-
ization). Section 2 presents the etymology of these three concepts’, leading to a
discussion of the main etymological reasons behind the confusion. In the Sect. 3,
we explore the historical use of these concepts in the pertinent literature; we reveal
how scholars have interpreted the concepts inconsistently and associated them with
a myriad of different realities/phenomena. Section 4 introduces a concept forma-
tion and assessment methodology to lay the theoretical foundation of how concepts
can be analyzed and assessed. Section 5 offers a collection of existing definitions
of digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation that we selected to analyze
their defining attributes. We present a detailed example of how we systematically
analyzed and assessed digitization’s historical defining attributes. We then report the
results of the same analysis for digitalization and digital transformation to assuage
the “fuzziness” issue associated with these concepts. Section 6 sums up and discusses
our findings that we hope will inspire academics and practitioners to use these terms
carefully and consistently.

Keywords Digital transformation · Digitalization · Digitization · Concept

evolution · Reconceptualization

C. Gong (B) · X. Parisot · D. Reis

The Institute for Knowledge and Innovation, South-East Asia (IKI-SEA), Bangkok University,
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
e-mail: [email protected]
X. Parisot
e-mail: [email protected]
D. Reis
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 1

D. Schallmo et al. (eds.), Digital Disruption and Transformation, Springer Proceedings
in Business and Economics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47888-8_1
2 C. Gong et al.

1 Introduction

World Economic Forum (2017) acknowledged digital transformation as one of the

world’s most pressing challenges for most organizations. Digital transformation (DT)
is challenging how organizations can better meet evolving customer expectations,
deliver their value propositions, and respond to a changing living and working envi-
ronment. The growing penetration of digital technologies in the market inevitably
drives organizations to rethink their value chain and draw up a roadmap to success-
fully embark on the “going digital”-journey. While there is general agreement on its
growing importance to an organization’s success, the inconsistent use of the term
“digital transformation” in academia and business practice generates confusion.
On the academic front, the definitional inconsistency of digital transformation and
its related terms (e.g., digitization, digitalization) and the theoretical inconsistency of
its implications at multiple levels of analysis hamper the betterment of research. The
co-existence of numerous conflicting definitions has rendered these terms meaning-
less. It creates difficulties in developing a consistent stream of research that builds on
what has been done before, thus making it more complicated to define and test rela-
tionships for digital transformation theory building (Gong and Ribiere 2021). The
vagueness in the literature demonstrates a lack of a comprehensive, unified under-
standing of digital transformation (Goerzig and Bauernhansl 2018; Haffke et al.
2016; Matt et al. 2015; Morakanyane et al. 2017; Van Veldhoven and Vanthienen
2019). This lack of a homogeneous interpretation of the concept is detrimental to
research synergy, leading to wildly contradictory and incompatible research findings
unfit to guide business practice.
On the practical front, digital transformation appears to be one of the top priorities
on business leaders’ agendas (Sundblad 2020). However, a McKinsey (2018) study
found that the success rate for implementing DT in organizations is less than 30%;
moreover, among those organizations reporting a successful implementation, only
23% improved their organizational performance, and in only 7% of cases were these
improvements deemed sustainable. The success rates do not exceed 26% in digi-
tally savvy industries (e.g., high tech, media, and telecom) and fall between 4 and
11% in more traditional industries (e.g., oil and gas, automotive, infrastructure, and
pharmaceuticals; De la Boutetière et al. 2018). IBM claims that successful digital
transformation took around four years and observed that 85% of efforts fail (Gibson
2018). Moreover, Gartner (2019) predicted that through 2021, digital transformation
initiatives would take large traditional organizations, on average, twice as long and
cost twice as much as initially anticipated.
Leaders and executives using the term DT inconsistently to describe various strate-
gizing and organizing activities (Warner and Wäger 2019) may risk blurring the
distinct direction of organizational strategic moves (e.g., aiming for incremental
vs. radical changes). Having an unclear DT vision challenges C-suite managers in
claiming authority and clearly defining job responsibility for digital-related projects
at the organizational level. Having diverse interpretations of DT makes it harder
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 3

to benchmark one’s performance against other organizations and industries on DT

metrics and best practices at the industrial level.

2 Concepts’ Etymology

Exploring the etymology of a term is crucial in concept formation since it reveals all
the historical connotations contained in a particular term and opens up “a whole new
understanding of the true reality” (Eriksson 2010, p. 5). Indeed, the origin, deriva-
tion, and historical evolution of a term explain the multivalence of its meanings, i.e.,
the multiplicity of its definitions (Gerring 1999). This definitional plurality gener-
ates a halo of meanings that can affect how common people, managers, and scholars
understand a concept “at first sight.” Therefore, a comparison between the existing
meanings and the one retained for the conceptual definition is informative in concept
formation studies (Eriksson 2010). It helps discriminate between the terms’ histor-
ical meanings, the actual meanings shared in common languages, and the meaning
chosen by scholars. Moreover, the diversity of accepted meanings in the common
language helps understand the size and scope of the term’s “halo effect” (Dumez
2011) chosen to denominate the concept. The meaning of the term(s) chosen in
the seminal definition(s) also determines what kinds of empirical cases the concept
applies to, how far this application should go, and where it should stop. In other
words, the concept’s meaning determines its empirical domain of validity.
The words digital and digitize share a common Latin root: “digit.” This term
emerged in ancient Latin (1st Century BC) digitus originally means “finger or toes,”
and evolved into modern Latin (since about 1500) digitalis means “fingers.” The
modern use of the term “digital” as an adjective, meaning “of signals, information,
or data: represented by series of discrete values (commonly the numbers 0 and 1),
typically for electronic storage or processing” started from 1940 (OED 2010). George
Stibitz first used the term in 1942 in the expression “digital computer” as a counterpart
to the analog (Aspray 2000). “Digital” also means “of a computer or calculator: that
operates on data in digital form; (of a storage medium) that stores digital data” (since
1945); “of technologies, media, etc.: involving digital data; making use of digital
computers or devices” (since 1948; OED 2010). These historical meanings of the
word “digital” laid the foundation of the modern use of the verb “digitize,” referring
to “converting into a sequence of digits in computer programming, moving from
analog number to electronic digits” (since 1953; “Online Etymology Dictionary”
n.d).
Etymologically, the word “digitization” is clearly rooted in the verb “digitize,”
while the word “digitalization” comes from the same Latin root “digital,” which
serves as one component of the concept “digital transformation.” This etymological
word commonality inevitably generates confusion between the meanings of these
terms, which leads to an interchangeable use of the different terms in both academia
and practice. All the concepts discussed above are using common language terms
for their concept formation. The multivalent meanings of these terms also blur the
4 C. Gong et al.

Fig. 1 Etymology of digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation (Source Own illustra-
tion)

specificities of each concept. Therefore, discrimination between digitization, digi-

talization, and digital transformation is more challenging to achieve from a common
language perspective. While this common denomination strategy improves these
terms’ familiarity, it decreases the ability to discriminate the concepts. The following
exploration of the intension and extension of each of these concepts could solve that
matter.
We present a summary of the etymology of the terms digitization, digitalization,
and digital transformation (see Fig. 1). A more detailed etymological analysis of
these terms can be found in section Appendix 1.

3 The Historical Use of the Concepts

Understanding the history of a concept’s formation is critical to recognize the evolu-

tion of its scope and limits of application. This history starts with the seminal defi-
nition(s) of the concept and continues with the evolution of that definition when
confronted with multiple empirical realities. As for digitalization and digital trans-
formation, this historical analysis is critical to explaining the sources of confusion that
resulted in the shared common etymological roots. It reveals the definitional overlap
and distinctions between these three terms and allows to retrace the chronological
emergence of their associated core attributes and auxiliary hypothesis (Lakatos 1978).
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 5

3.1 Digitization

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) traces the first modern use of the term “digiti-
zation” jointly with computers to the mid-1950s (OED 2014). According to the OED,
digitization refers to “the action or process of digitizing; the conversion of analog
data (especially in later use images, video, and text) into digital form.” Some scholars
refer it to the technical process of converting analog data into a digital format: an
array of zeros and ones stored in a way that makes them readable by computers. With
the technological development, the creation, storage, communication, and consump-
tion of information and non-digital products are all being gradually digitized (Press
2015). The development of digital technologies and their implications in different
fields have compelled scholars and practitioners to explore digital technologies’
potential, extending from the technical process to their impact on different entities
(i.e., organizations, businesses, industries, societies).
A Google Trend search by Seibt et al. (2019) indicates that the term digitization
used to be more popular in English-speaking countries, while the term digitalization
has been more frequently searched for in continental Europe. No distinction is widely
represented in dictionaries, such as the Oxford dictionary, which offers the same
definition for both terms. The Encyclopedia Britannica (“Encyclopedia Britannica”
n.d.) and sociological dictionaries (Bruce and Yearley 2006; Scott and Marshall 2009;
Swedberg and Agevall 2016; Turner 2006) do not define the terms digitization and
digitalization. However, both terms are applied in business contexts, public debates
by media (Seibt et al. 2019) with correlated meanings that have been causing a great
deal of confusion.
In the academic literature, no single seminal scientific definition that all the authors
agree upon can be found for each of these concepts. Moreover, all the definitions of
digitization are rooted in common language, not in systematic scientific conceptu-
alization. Digitization and digitalization terms are often applied to signify the same
objects/phenomenon. The same overlap exists between the use of the term digitization
and the term digital transformation. Some authors use different terms interchange-
ably consciously or unconsciously; others may differentiate one concept while using
the other two terms as equivalents implicitly or explicitly. Such confusion or lack of a
common conceptual basis makes it impossible to ensure cumulative and sustainable
knowledge creation (Sparrowe and Mayer 2011). Consequently, this lack of clarity
leads some authors to distinguish these three terms and their associated definitions
in their articles to attach one specific term to one specific object/phenomena (e.g.,
Mergel et al. 2019; Verhoef et al. 2019).

3.2 Digitalization

The first contemporary use of the term “digitalization” along with computeriza-
tion appeared in Wachal’s (1971) essay that discusses the social implications of
6 C. Gong et al.

the digitalization of society in computer-assisted humanities research (Brennen and

Kreiss 2016). In general, digitalization refers to “the use of digital technologies”
(Srai and Lorentz 2019, p. 79). It “loses its more technical aspects to digitization
while maintaining the vague ideas of restructuring social life or business, and all the
normative connotations they entail” (Seibt et al. 2019, p. 10). Dijk van Jan (2006)
noted that digitalization “allows a considerable increase in the production, disper-
sion, and consumption of information and the signals of communication” (p. 193),
and “produces a culture of speed because creative production is assisted by the power
of accelerated processing and distribution in computers and networks” (p. 209).
Digitalization is often used as a synonym of digital transformation when
describing changes brought by the adoption of digital technologies in society and
organizations. Besides, Seibt et al. (2019) argued that the discussion around the
digitalization of industry is a debate that got labeled “Industries 4.0,” which is the
most prominent field of the industrial application of digitization, digitalization, and
automation (Schumacher et al. 2016). Bloomberg (2018) noted that “automation is a
major part of the digitalization story, whether it be shifting work roles or transforming
business processes generally” (p. 4).
The implementation of IT tools/software in organizations, such as MRP (Mate-
rial Requirements Planning), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), ERP
(Enterprise Resource Planning), and BPR (Business Process Reengineering), leads
to the first generation of digitalization processes. During the 1970s and 1980s, with
computer hardware and software development, MRP and MRP II emerged, driven by
the need for stronger integration between the functional enterprise silos, the suppliers,
and the customers. From the 1990s, ERP (i.e., the adoption of standard software pack-
ages) and BPR (i.e., business management initiatives striving for process efficiency
supported by IT) started to emerge and spread. ERP is a “framework for organizing,
defining, and standardizing the business processes necessary to effectively plan and
control an organization so the organization can use its internal knowledge to seek
external advantage” (Blackstone and Cox 2005, p. 38). This dictionary definition
resonates obviously with the expected outcomes of digitalization. The common aim/
goal is to optimize organizations’ existing business processes through efficient coor-
dination between routines (Pagani and Pardo 2017). Organizations may undertake a
series of digitalization projects to automate processes and increase process efficiency
(Bloomberg 2018).
For the practitioners, digitalization refers to “the use of digital technologies and
data (digitized and natively digital) to create revenue, improve business, replace
business processes (not simply digitizing them) and create an environment for digital
business” (i-scoop 2016), and “using digital technologies to automate processes for
better outcomes and to optimize value” (NCMM 2020). For scholars, digitalization
refers to “the adoption of Internet-connected digital technologies and applications
by companies” (Pagani and Pardo 2017, p. 185), and “a means to fulfill customers’
needs more effectively, adapt to changes in the sector and increase their competitive
advantage” (Rachinger et al. 2019, p. 1150).
In digitalization, digital technologies serve as enablers for organizations to change
their existing business processes (Verhoef et al. 2019), including communication
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 7

(Ramaswamy and Ozcan 2016; Van Doorn et al. 2010) and distribution (Leviäkangas
2016). To achieve such goals, organizations may use ERP or other digital tech-
nologies to support the digitalization process. The changes ERP introduced are
primarily limited to business processes within organizational boundaries in effi-
ciency improvement, cost reduction, and business process optimization (Ash and
Burn 2003; Kauffman and Walden 2001), mainly focusing on deploying internal
management information systems (Boersma and Kingma 2005). ERP and BPR put
effort into exploiting IT software packages to improve organizational processes,
focusing on production effectiveness and efficiency internally. Digitalization empha-
sizes the change process as a whole to achieve economic-driven outcomes through
ERP or BPR and other digital technologies.

3.3 Digital Transformation

There is no common consensus regarding the seminal scientific definition of digital

transformation in the literature. Historically, the ideas of digital products, services,
and mediums can be traced back to the 1990s and 2000s (Auriga 2016; Schallmo
et al. 2017). Morton (1991) noted that organizations experience fundamental trans-
formations for effective IT implementation. This idea gave birth to a research stream
studying IT-enabled organizational transformation, which may be seen as one of the
scholarly roots of DT research (Nadkarni and Prügl 2020). It initiated DT’s discussion
with a strong IT focus as a catalyst of the information revolution (Gates et al. 1995) in
the context of the Information Society’s age and global competition. Therefore, at the
early stage, a strong emphasis was put on the “digital” part – the use of digital tech-
nologies, providing a limited understanding of the “transformation” part of an entity.
Thus, oftentimes, the concept of DT was used, or probably misused, synonymously
with the one of digitization (the technical process) and digitalization (the installation
process). With the accelerating development of digital technologies since the 1940s,
industrial changes and societal developments throughout the previous decades could
be witnessed, thus giving more importance to the transformational part of DT.
People then started to associate DT with the changes that digital technologies cause
or influence in all aspects of human life (Stolterman and Fors 2004). The “transfor-
mation” part of DT, which was undervalued, gradually came back to attention. As
different research streams started to emerge, some scholars gradually realized that DT
is more than just a technological shift (Henriette et al. 2015). Apart from technology,
it requires “actors” (Nadkarni and Prügl 2020) and the alignment of strategy and
other factors, such as culture, mindset, talent development, and leadership (Goran
et al. 2017). In recent years, some researchers have been concentrating on identifying
DT’s dimensions and drivers (Liere-Netheler et al. 2018a, b; Verhoef et al. 2019) as
follows:
8 C. Gong et al.

• External drivers encompass: (1) innovation push and market pull generated
by the adoption and development of digital technologies (Nambisan et al. 2017;
Sambamurthy et al. 2003); (2) increasing volume of data (Kouroubali and Kate-
hakis 2019; Pappas et al. 2018; Zaki 2019); (3) accelerating customer behavior
changes (Rogers 2016; von Leipzig et al. 2017; Westerman et al. 2014); and (4)
laws/government policies adjustments (Gong et al. 2020; Nambisan et al. 2019),
etc.
• Internal drivers include: (1) strategic imperative, such as, process and work-
place improvement (Henriette et al. 2016); (2) vertical and horizontal integration
(Camarinha-Matos et al. 2019; Gölzer and Fritzsche 2017; Borangiu et al. 2019;
Liere-Netheler et al. 2018a, b); (3) management support (Matt et al. 2015; Vukšić
et al. 2018); and (4) cost reduction (Liere-Netheler et al. 2018a, b), etc. Some
other scholars focus on the positive and negative impacts of DT.
• Positive consequences contain (1) decision making improvement (Heilig et al.
2017; Roedder et al. 2016); (2) competitive advantage creation (Korhonen and
Halen 2017; Schwertner 2017); (3) value creation enhancement, e.g., optimize
customer experiences (Rogers 2016), etc.
• Negative consequences cover Cybersecurity (Möller 2020) and privacy (Mend-
hurwar and Mishra 2019), etc.
Beyond these new research directions, debates regarding the true nature of DT are
ongoing. The controversy may be fundamentally founded in the fact that the range of
DT definitions vary from: a slight technology-enabled change such as implementing a
new ERP System (Chanias 2017) to a more radical and evolutionary process that takes
place over time (Janowski 2015; Loebbecke and Picot 2015; Wang et al. 2018) or the
economic and societal effects of digitization and digitalization (OECD 2018). While
some researchers associate DT with business models (Berman 2012; Bharadwaj et al.
2013; Gassmann et al. 2014; Schallmo et al. 2017) and strategy (Bharadwaj et al.
2013; Henriette et al. 2015; Matt et al. 2015; Rogers 2016; Westerman 2018), others
view DT as a paradigm or as a process (Berman 2012; Janowski 2015; Wang et al.
2018). As a result, the growing diversity of research fields associated with the concept
of DT complexifies its clarification.

3.4 Synthesis

Historically, the three terms digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation

are interconnected and describe different objects or phenomena. Digitalization with
a longer history of use in the literature than digital transformation inevitably encom-
passes the early discussion of digitization’s social impact and the later discussion
of digital transformation’s result. The absence of prevalent academic definitions for
these three concepts is rooted in their ontogenesis, which was multivalent and parallel.
Then, the multiplicity of connections between these concepts and others leads to a
broad diversity of parallel theorizations. While this situation enriches the spectrum
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 9

of digital transformation research programs (Lakatos 1978), it does not clarify the
concepts.
Multiple theorizations based on multiple conceptual definitions hinder the scien-
tific community’s ability to better define and connect all the objects involved in digital
transformation, i.e., to standardize and generalize their research strategy. Therefore,
the possibility of comparing different results from different studies is very limited in
the current situation. It implies that authors of academic papers should first consider
the connections applied between the chosen terms, the definitions, and the objects
or phenomena under scrutiny.
Apart from its truly intended meaning, digitalization has also been used to describe
digitization in some cases and digital transformation in other cases. Some authors
such as Verhoef et al. (2019) view the terms in a sequential order (digitization →
digitalization → digital transformation) with digitalization bridging and connecting
the other two terms; other scholars disagree with this view. The situation is further
complicated when linguistically translating digitalization and digital transformation
as one word in some languages to explain the change and its end-results of using
digital technologies, not the technical process.
Digitalization is used to depict a state of being digitalized and the process whereby
the entities are affected by the action of “going digital.” Today’s consensus seems
that digital transformation is more than digitization (Haffke et al. 2016; Iansiti and
Lakhani 2014; Yoo et al. 2012). According to a scoping review of Verhoef et al.
(2019), most of the literature subscribes that digitization and digitalization imply
more incremental phases to attain the most pervasive phase of digital transformation
(Loebbecke and Picot 2015; Parviainen et al. 2017a, b). However, the inconsistent
use of digitalization and digital transformation still exist in a broad range of academic
and practitioner literature. And a disconcerting limitation of the existing literature is
the failure to distinguish them properly.

4 The Concept Analysis Methodology

Based on Ogden and Richards (1923) semantic triangle (i.e., symbol, thought/
reference, referent) and on Sartori’s (1984) work (i.e., term/word, meaning, referent/
object), Gerring (1999) proposed eight in-depth criteria of conceptual goodness:
familiarity, resonance, parsimony, coherence, differentiation, depth, theoretical
utility, and field utility. Gerring (1999) supports Ogden and Richards (1923) view that
concepts are good when they attain a proper alignment between the three dimensions
of intension, extension, and term (pp. 357–358) (see Fig. 2):
• The term refers to the words allocated to a concept as a label covering both the
intension and the extension. It impacts the level of familiarity, resonance, and field
utility of the concept.
10 C. Gong et al.

Fig. 2 Concept goodness assessment rating scale (Source Own illustration). Notes The eight criteria
of concept goodness are adapted from Gerring (1999)

• The intension, i.e., connotation, meaning, definiens, or definition, refers to the

properties or attributes that define a concept. The attributes specifically chosen to
define the concept establishes its level of parsimony and internal coherence.
• The extension, i.e., denotation, referent, object, definiendum, refers to the object,
event, or phenomenon to be defined and the referent or referents to which a concept
applies. It determines the nature of the empirical cases a concept applies to and
impacts the concept’s theoretical utility and depth. It determines a concept’s level
of differentiation.
Exploring the evolution of definitions reveals: (1) the multiplicity of defini-
tions proposed in the literature; (2) to what extent their defining attributes overlap
between the three concepts: digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation;
(3) the plurality of conceptual boundaries and therefore of realities under scrutiny.
It allows specifying the core and peripheral defining attributes used to define the
three concepts. The defining attributes can then be grouped to analyze their logical
alignment (internal coherence) as well as their external differentiation. Hence, such
an analytical process facilitates a qualitative evaluation regarding the connections
between the three dimensions of the semantic triangle and assesses the conceptual
goodness of the targeted concepts using a rating scale adapted from Gerring’s (1999)
framework (see Fig. 2).
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 11

5 The Defining Attributes Analysis and Conceptual

Assessment of the Relevant Terms in the Literature

5.1 Digitization

Definitions of digitization are collected until saturation/repetition of the defining

attributes is observed. This process ensures that most of the applied defining attributes
are identified. Saturation was achieved with 11 definitions. These key definitions of
digitization evolved over the past two decades since the first definition was proposed
in 1995 (and are presented in Appendix 2).
We summarize the 27 defining attributes of digitization and their frequency in
Table 1. Based on the accumulated frequency of these attributes, the first five defining
attributes are the core defining attributes (most frequent); the following 3 defining
attributes are the peripheral (average frequency); and the rest are the outsiders (low
frequency).
The analysis shows that digitization refers to a technical process of converting
analog data/information1 into digital forms. It is a process that has both symbolic (i.e.,
converting analog data into bits represented as 0 s and 1 s) and material (i.e., artifacts
used to store and communicate digitized information) dimensions. Hence, through
digitization, data is deconstructed and encoded as strings of 0 s and 1 s that “can then
be expressed in many different ways, on many different types of materials, and in
many different systems” (Brennen and Kreiss 2016, p. 2) as information. The ulti-
mate characteristic of being stripped of errors, repetitions, and static allows digitized
data and information to be easily stored, transferred, manipulated, and displayed,
thus reducing paper clutter and improving efficiency. Digitization makes physical
products programmable, addressable, sensible, communicable, memorable, trace-
able, and associable (Yoo 2010). Traditional physical products embedded with digital
technologies, such as cameras (Tripsas 2009), phones (Ghazawneh and Henfridsson
2013), magazines (Nylén et al. 2014), and automobiles (Svahn et al. 2017), can
provide a much wider range of functionality than non-digital products (Holmström
2018). The essence/essential meaning of digitization is presented in Fig. 3.
Based on the concept goodness assessment rating scale, digitization’s concept
goodness is discussed as follows:
Familiarity: Digitization is rooted in the modern use of the verb “digitize” and
refers to “the action or process of digitizing, i.e., the conversion of analog to digital
forms.” If “digitization” as a whole word is not always very familiar for common
people, the root “digit” and the suffix “-ization” are separately familiar. Such a level
of familiarity here is enough to grasp the “conversion” nature of the term easily.
However, in English, constructing a noun out of a verb by adding an “-ization”
generates a double meaning (Taylor 2000). The new term will denote either the
process described by the original verb or the end-state that results from the culmi-
nation of such a process (Buller and Gamble 2002). Therefore, common people can

1 Note that data and information are used as synonyms in these definitions.
Table 1 Digitization’s defining attributes and frequency
12

Concepts Digitization
Defining Negroponte Yoo Katz and OED Brennen Legner Gölzer Schallmo Bloomberg Verhoef Gartner’s Attributes Attributes
attributes (1995) et al. Koutroumpis (2014) and et al. and and (2018) et al. IT frequency repetition
(2010) (2013) Kreiss (2017) Fritzsche Williams (2019) glossary,
(2016) (2017) (2018) n.d
Analog ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 0.37 10
Digital form/bits ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 0.37 10
Process ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 0.30 8
Data/information ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 0.30 8
Conversion ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 0.22 6
Encoding ✔ ✔ ✔ 0.11 3
Technical ✔ ✔ 0.07 2
Action ✔ ✔ 0.07 2
Transmit ✔ 0.04 1
Change ✔ 0.04 1
Digitize ✔ 0.04 1
Physical artifacts ✔ 0.04 1
Store ✔ 0.04 1
Social ✔ 0.04 1
Transformation ✔ 0.04 1
Techno-economic ✔ 0.04 1
environment
(continued)
C. Gong et al.
Table 1 (continued)
Concepts Digitization
Defining Negroponte Yoo Katz and OED Brennen Legner Gölzer Schallmo Bloomberg Verhoef Gartner’s Attributes Attributes
attributes (1995) et al. Koutroumpis (2014) and et al. and and (2018) et al. IT frequency repetition
(2010) (2013) Kreiss (2017) Fritzsche Williams (2019) glossary,
(2016) (2017) (2018) n.d
Socio-institutional ✔ 0.04 1
operation
Digital ✔ 0.04 1
communications
Digital ✔ 0.04 1
application
The Evolution of Digital Transformation

Signals ✔ 0.04 1
Material ✔ 0.04 1
Implementing ✔ 0.04 1
Business ✔ 0.04 1
processes
Acquire ✔ 0.04 1
knowledge
Create new value ✔ 0.04 1
Stakeholders ✔ 0.04 1
Computers ✔ 0.04 1
(Source Own illustration)
Note Attributes frequency equals the number of attributes repetition divided by the total number of defining attributes identified (27)
13
14 C. Gong et al.

Fig. 3 The concept of

digitization (Source Own
illustration)

interpret the combination of “digit” and “-ization” in three different ways: process,
result, or both. The multiplicity of possible interpretations decreases the accuracy of
describing the phenomenon.
Resonance: Digitization first resonates with “digit,” “digital,” and “digitize.” The
cognitive click between “digitization” and “digital” is relevant and increases the level
of the catchiness of the label/term. However, the connection between the label/term
and its formal meaning is not that obvious. There is clearly a rhyming scheme in the
label/term, which also increases its catchiness.
Parsimony: 5 core and 3 peripheral attributes are recurrently applied to define
digitization. The number of attributes at the core meets the parsimony criteria as
expressed by Gerring (1999): “[no more than] a half-dozen attributes” (p. 371).
Coherence: Digitization has a high level of internal coherence. The 5 core defining
attributes (e.g., analog, digital form/bits, process, data/information, conversion)
convey the essential meaning of a conversion process from analog data/information
to digital form/bits. Taking the peripheral (e.g., encoding, technical, action) into
consideration, the essential meaning of the action “digitize” is further strengthened.
They depict a technical process of “encoding [analog] into zeroes and ones so that
computers can store, process, and transmit such information” (Bloomberg 2018).
The instances and attributes used to define this concept are internally consistent and
logically related (see Fig. 4). To achieve a more precise elaboration, we differentiate
data and information from a knowledge management perspective. Data refers to the
facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis, whereas information
to “any non-random pattern or set of patterns” (Bennet et al. 2015) conveyed or
represented.
Differentiation: The main challenge of defining digitization is to establish clear
borders within a field of similar terms (e.g., digitalization, digital transformation).
However, based on the defining attributes’ analysis, this concept’s definitional borders
are relatively clear in the technical sense as demonstrated in coherence, thus allowing
a good operationalizability.
Depth: The clear boards of digitization in the technical sense, on the other side,
lower the level of its depth to cover the number of properties shared by this object/

Fig. 4 The visual presentation of reconceptualized digitization internal coherence (Source Own
illustration). Note Attributes “Action of Technical Encoding” are peripheral defining attributes
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 15

phenomena in its extension. In other words, poor ability of bundling characteristics.

However, according to the definitions in Appendix 2, digitization is not a residual
concept (i.e., define a concept by what it isn’t).
Theoretical utility: Digitization was first used jointly with computers, then
extended from the technical process to its impact on the development of digital
technologies and their implication. It is not theory-driven since its concept incep-
tion comes from a technology implication perspective, which limited this concept’s
theoretical utility from its position within a narrower array of terms. Especially in
computer science, digitization is used to describe the technical process of converting
numerical or other information represented in a form suitable for processing by
computers. However, with the unclear conceptual definitions (mixing the process
and result) in the early years, this concept was used to mobilize the meanings of
its related terms as they share the same roots. Simply using them interchangeably
without a solid theorization process may increase this concept’s theoretical utility but
destroy other criteria (e.g., coherence, differentiation) and formulation of theories.
Semantic field utility: Digitization has a relatively high semantic field utility as
it does not destroy these words used to define it. Digitizing the analog data does
not change the understanding of converting or encoding them into digits (0 s and
1 s). None of these neighboring terms are hurt while conceptualizing digitization. By
contrast, it establishes a very good relationship with them and increases their utility
in the semantic field.
In short, several conclusions emerge from this evaluation: the concept of digitiza-
tion performs quite well on the parameter of the term (i.e., familiarity, resonance, field
utility) and intension (i.e., parsimony, coherence), and moderately on the parameter
of extension (i.e., depth, differentiation, theoretical utility) concerning a lower score
of theoretical utility. Digitization meets the criteria of depth and differentiation well
in the technical sense. Figure 5 presents the overall result of our assessment of the
term digitization on the eight criteria with the help of Gerring’s framework (as shown
in Fig. 2).

5.2 Digitalization and Digital Transformation

While digitization appears to be a distinct concept that refers to the technical process
of converting analog data into digital formats, defining attributes of digitalization
and digital transformation overlap. Therefore, a systematic analysis of digital trans-
formation’s concept formation and conceptualization evolution constitutes a prereq-
uisite for further theorization and modelization. To achieve better readability, the
authors decided to present these two concepts together to show the commonality and
difference.
Gong and Ribiere (2021) reviewed 134 digital transformation definitions to
provide insights into six core defining primitives of this concept. They found that the
challenge and need to develop a sustainable nomenclature of digital-related terms
16 C. Gong et al.

Fig. 5 The concept

assessment result of
“digitization” (Source Own
illustration)

and concepts is an urgent and important problem to tackle, especially the difference
between digitalization and digital transformation.
This chapter further discusses these two distinct, yet interrelated concepts through
a diachronic analysis of their definition attributes based on empirical evidence. Thus,
a search query for empirical papers studying digitalization and digital transformation
was performed in the EBSCO database, and full-text papers were downloaded and
screened for their eligibility. Thirty-six definitions were extracted based on empirical
evidence, including 24 definitions of digital transformation and 12 definitions of
digitalization. The defining attributes and their frequency for each term are listed in
Appendix 3 to clearly show their similarities and differences.
In total, there are 41 defining attributes for digital transformation and 30 for digi-
talization, which indicates a high level of discrepancy among the available definitions
and the issue of conceptual stretching in these definitions. Regarding the etymolog-
ical and historical issues discussed in Sects. 2 and 3, it is not surprising that around
36% (15 out of 41) of digital transformation’s defining attributes overlap with digi-
talization. Taking a closer look at these attributes, the internal coherence and external
differentiation are debatable. No single definition that encompasses all or most of
the core and peripheral defining attributes also supports this view. Such diversity of
attributes either indicates the multiplicity of meanings attached to one concept or
suggests there should be two or more concepts to better discriminate the meanings
based on logical internal coherence and external differentiation. The choice made
here will also affect the theory-building associated with these terms in the long run.
Having a clear boundary for each concept will determine what reality is effectively
attached to a particular concept and benefit the empirical research to obtain consistent
and comparable results. To achieve such aims, a deep analysis of all these defining
attributes (of the concepts digitalization and digital transformation) in the context of
the papers from which the definitions were extracted is needed. The same method-
ology used to analyze the concept digitization was applied again to analyze the core
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 17

and peripheral attributes for assessing the concepts of digitalization and digital trans-
formation based on Gerring’s (1999) framework. However, we decided not to present
our analysis in all its details here to avoid content repetition and overextending the
scope of this chapter.
Digitalization. Looking at all the defining attributes of digitalization, the
following points can be drawn:
• Firstly, digitalization refers to the change process of adopting and using digital
technologies, whether these changes occur in individuals’ connection and their
behaviors (Gimpel and Röglinger 2015), or the manifold socio-technical changes
in broader individual, organizational, and societal contexts (Legner et al. 2017).
This variety of change in the context of digitalization indicates a contextual
hierarchy in these definitions.
• Secondly, the outcome of digitalization is more focused on describing the conse-
quences that implementing digital technologies may have on offerings (i.e., prod-
ucts and services) and the quality of the organization’s relationships with others
(e.g., increased simplicity, efficiency, speed, competitiveness, etc.). It focuses on
the change of existing socio-technical structures that were previously mediated
by non-digital artifacts (Thorseng and Grisot 2017) and the potential changes in
the processes beyond the mere digitizing of existing processes, forms, and work
products (Parviainen et al. 2017a, b). That is, it is beyond the technical process
of digitization. In contrast, digitalization is the main driver that affects the busi-
ness environment and inter-functional coordination in particular (Ruiz-Alba et al.
2019) to integrate the functional silos. It is a means to fulfill customers’ needs
more effectively (Rachinger et al. 2019) and makes businesses act rapidly in a
short time frame (Sehlin et al. 2019). It has accelerated the shift from product-
based to service-based businesses, affecting fundamentally how firms compete for
and transact with customers (Hänninen et al. 2018). It changes the relationships
into ones that are mediated by digitized artifacts and relationships with newly
embedded digital capabilities (Thorseng and Grisot 2017).
• Thirdly, digitalization may be a source of an organization’s competitive advan-
tage through increased efficiency. It improves the organization’s effectiveness
and influences its internal structures by reinforcing interdisciplinary collaboration
(Rachinger et al. 2019).
Figure 6 presents the identified defining attributes of digitalization. It reveals
that there are several dimensions included in this concept, some of which overlap
with digital transformation. This overlap is rooted in the etymological confusion as
discussed in Sects. 2 and 3, leading to an unclear border with digital transformation.
A further explanation to realign these dimensions is needed to increase its internal
coherence and external differentiation to understand this concept better.
The concept of digitalization is woefully debatable. In the case of picking out one
phenomenon among other phenomena, this concept generates confusion by linking
its neighboring concepts with their overlapping attributes in reference to various
objects/phenomena. That is, an undifferentiable conceptual definition may contribute
to digitalization’s familiarity, resonance, and depth; however, it largely diminishes its
18 C. Gong et al.

Fig. 6 The core and peripheral defining attributes of digitalization (Source Own illustration). Note
The defining attributes away from the bullseye in the small circles are the outsiders (low frequency)
compared to the core defining attributes in the inner ring and peripheral in the outer ring

level of differentiation and blurring its boundaries from other neighboring concepts.
Without a clear boundary specifying digitalization’s nature, such confusion will
continuously damage the semantic field utility and connect phenomena whose shared
properties are not related in some manner. Therefore, a reconceptualization with a
high level of coherence and differentiation is needed for this concept to perform
better in extension and intension.
Digital Transformation. In a different vein, looking at the defining attributes
of digital transformation (DT), the scope and the expected outcome of digital
transformation are different from that of digitalization:
• Firstly, digital transformation refers to a transformation (i.e., fundamental change)
process of using digital technologies rather than a non-fundamental change
process. Liu et al. (2011) defined digital transformation as “an organizational
transformation that integrates digital technologies and business processes in
a digital economy” (p. 1730) based on their qualitative case study of CBC
Bank’s global e-banking project. Digital technologies are used to transform the
customer value proposition and organizing operations to create new business
models (Berman 2012). It changes a business model in how the organization
creates value for its customers (i.e., customer value proposition) and how it
captures that value (i.e., how it makes money) (Iansiti and Lakhani 2014). Kane
et al. (2015) confirmed digital transformation as an organizational transforma-
tion, where digital technologies transform the business models and processes,
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 19

based on their survey of more than 4,800 business executives, managers, and
analysts in 129 countries and 27 industries, as well as interviews with business
executives and technology vendors. Such transformation of business activities,
processes, models, competencies, operational routines, and organizational capa-
bilities to fully leverage the changes and opportunities brought by digital tech-
nologies is profound and fundamental in nature (Demirkan et al. 2016; Li et al.
2018). It encompasses the networking of actors such as businesses and customers
across all value chain segments and applying digital technologies (Schallmo et al.
2017). Hence, these aforementioned attributes resonate with the emerging notion
of business model innovation, which has received massive practical (Pohle and
Chapman 2006) and theoretical (Schneider and Spieth 2013, 2014; Zott et al.
2011) interest in recent years. Its broad definition as “the implementation of a
business model that is new to the firm” (Björkdahl and Holmén 2013, p. 214),
and its main dimensions of value creation, value proposition, and value capture
(Baden-Fuller and Haefliger 2013; Clauss 2017; Johnson et al. 2008; Massa and
Tucci 2014; Morris et al. 2005; Zott and Amit 2013) fit the expected end results
where digital transformation is heading to at the strategic level.
• Secondly, the end result of digital transformation is a significant transformation
(i.e., a redefinition of mission and purpose to reflect a new direction), rather than
a simple realignment (i.e., a change to the way of doing things that do not involve
a fundamental reappraisal of the central assumptions and beliefs within the orga-
nization) from a change management perspective (Balogun et al. 2015). Digital
transformation generates radical improvement (Westerman et al. 2011). It is a
holistic effort to revise core processes and services, which results in a complete
revision of the existing and the creation of new digital products and services
(Mergel et al. 2019). Digital transformation goes beyond just technological shift
(Kane et al. 2015); it also involves the process of strategic renewal and dynamic
capabilities development of an organization (Warner and Wäger 2019) to address
the opportunities and risks that originate from digital technologies (Singh and
Hess 2017). It affects employees’ operational work routines (Chen et al. 2014) at
the operational level, and also managerial processes (Iansiti and Lakhani 2014)
and human relations (Mićić 2017) at the managerial level. Redefining the organi-
zation’s value propositions may be shaped by customer interaction and collabora-
tion (Berman 2012) and customer engagement (Schuchmann and Seufert 2015).
Digital transformation can influence organizational culture and capabilities (Li
et al. 2018; Tan et al. 2015) and “lead to highly dynamic markets, pressuring
employees to continuously adapt to new situations and increasing the need for
agility and lifelong learning” (Schwarzmüller et al. 2018, p. 126). While top exec-
utives set and drive the digital agenda, it’s crucial that they also put a focus on
employees and talent engagement to achieve digital maturity (Kane et al. 2015).
• Thirdly, while 11 definitions out of 24 studies explicitly acknowledge organiza-
tions as the entity (i.e., the unit of analysis affected by digital transformation),
few studies also include industry and society as entities. Digital transformation
is the integration of digital technologies into business, resulting in fundamental
changes in the way the world does business and communicates (Mićić 2017).
20 C. Gong et al.

Digital technologies are rapidly transforming the fundamental nature of a broad

range of organizations and revitalizing their digital business models across indus-
tries (Demirkan et al. 2016). Such a holistic form of business transformation is
accompanied by fundamental economic and technological changes at the organi-
zational and industry-level (Chanias et al. 2019) and unfolds their impact across
society in a strategic and prioritized way (Demirkan et al. 2016). This indicates a
multiplicity of the entity affected by digital transformation.
• Lastly, using “digital economy” and “digital maturity” to define digital transfor-
mation raises the issue of conceptual stretching, which refers to the distortion
that occurs when a concept does not fit the new cases (Collier and Mahon 1993;
Sartori 1970). These two terms themselves remain unspecified in the literature.
Utilizing them to broaden digital transformation’s connotations can stretch digital
transformation to “cover instances that lie quite a bit outside their normal range
of use” (Gerring 1999, p. 360).
Figure 7 shows the identified defining attributes of digital transformation.
In short, several conclusions emerge from this evaluation. It is noteworthy that the
concept of DT performs quite well on several criteria: it is familiar and resonant and
seems to be sufficiently parsimonious and highly theoretically useful. Therefore, as
noted above, it is little wonder that the concept gained popularity so quickly, which
has put it at a risk of turning into a buzzword. However, with a reconceptualization
that better connects the essence of defining attributes, the overall concept assessment
results improve. The concept DT performs quite well in its term, extension, and

Fig. 7 The core and peripheral defining attributes of digital transformation (Source Own illustra-
tion). Note The defining attributes away from the bullseye in the small circles are the outsiders (low
frequency) compared to the core defining attributes in the inner ring and peripheral in the outer ring
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 21

intension: high resonance and theoretical utility; good depth, familiarity, coherence,
and differentiation; moderate parsimony, and field utility to some extent.

5.3 Synthesis

Following all the discussion in this section, there are some overlaps of digitalization
and digital transformation: both terms acknowledge the change process enabled by
digital technologies. Yet, they are emphasizing the different scope and end results
of this change process. Indeed, both digitalization with the suffix “-ization” and
digital transformation using the term “transformation” indicate that the deep nature
of these concepts is a process, more specifically, a change process. However, in
general, the existing literature is not sufficient to differentiate digitalization from
digital transformation.
Only considering core defining attributes, the critical attribute to distinguish these
two concepts is “change” (digitalization) versus “transformation” (digital transfor-
mation). Such difference in terms of the scope of the change to further differen-
tiate these two concepts is evident in the domain of change management but may
not be obvious in common language. From a change management perspective, this
core defining attribute for each concept already indicates the different nature of the
process enabled by digital technologies and the expected end-result they may achieve.
Regarding the scope of change, digitalization is an incremental or continuous change
that involves installing digital technologies needed to keep an organization on its
chosen path with improved efficiency. This change may not necessarily be small, even
involve significant commitments of resources, time, people, and money. However, it
has not fundamentally altered the organization’s core (i.e., the organization’s central
assumptions and beliefs), such as the structures, missions, visions, cultures, etc. On
the contrary, digital transformation encompasses a fundamental shift in the organiza-
tion’s business model, touching all structural, cultural, and procedural aspects. It is an
all-encompassing metamorphosis (transformation) of an entity (organization). This
entity affected by such fundamental change is included in digital transformation’s
core defining attributes, but not mentioned in digitalization’s definitional core.
Extending to digitalization’s peripheral attributes, there is a contextual hierarchy
of the entities affected by this change (i.e., individual, organizational, and societal).
A similar hierarchy can be found in digital transformation’s defining attributes (i.e.,
organizational, industrial, societal). Moreover, if the digital transformation defini-
tions were extracted from both conceptual and empirical papers, the entities affected
by digital transformation would encompass an organization, a business network, an
industry, or society (Gong and Ribiere 2021). Hence, this hierarchical perspective is
one dimension that needs further research.
If we only consider organizations as the entity, we propose that digital trans-
formation focuses on transforming the organizations’ business operations to create
new business models. In contrast, digitalization focuses on the installation of digital
technologies, so that they can be used to achieve economic-driven outcomes (e.g.,
22 C. Gong et al.

improve efficiency and productivity, or error elimination). It is a means to help the

organization reinforce its existing value proposition efficiently and effectively, i.e.,
a change to the way of doing things with the deployment of digital technologies
in place. It does not involve a fundamental reappraisal of the organization’s central
assumptions or a paradigm shift of its organizational identity or business model.
Therefore, based on our comprehensive analysis, we conclude that digital transfor-
mation is not equivalent to digitalization, and recommend the two concepts to be
kept distinct at the conceptual level.

6 Discussion

The growing penetration of digital technologies in the market with the associated
changes inevitably drive organizations to rethink their options to digitally transform
themselves.
To better understand the evolution of digital transformation, this chapter discussed
the confusion around the DT concept and its related concepts (i.e., digitization, digi-
talization) following a systematic methodological approach. Firstly, we presented
the etymology of the three concepts, leading to a discussion of the main etymolog-
ical reasons behind the confusion. Secondly, we discussed the historical evolution of
these concepts, thereby revealing their inconsistent use in the existing literature; here,
we also offered a synthesis of what realities/phenomena these terms are associated
with. Thirdly, we introduced the concept formation and assessment methodology of
Gerring (1999) to lay the theoretical foundation of how concepts can be analyzed and
assessed. Finally, we collected existing definitions of digitization, digitalization, and
digital transformation, and then systematized these based on a defining attributes
analysis. Next, we performed and presented a detailed example of how digitiza-
tion’s historical defining attributes were analyzed and assessed based on Gerring’s
eight criteria. The results of the same analysis for digitalization and digital trans-
formation were presented as well. To our best understanding, these three concepts
are interrelated, yet they should be kept distinct at the conceptual level to describe
various strategizing and organizing activities in practice and different implications
at multiple levels of analysis in research. Based on our comprehensive analysis, we
propose differentiating the three concepts as follows:
• Digitization is the technical process of converting analog into digital formats.
• Digitalization is the change process of installing digital technologies to reinforce
the organization’s existing value proposition.
• Digital transformation is a fundamental change process of an organization
enabled by exploring the use of digital technologies to redefine its business models.
On the academic front, this chapter offers a solution to solve the definitional
and theoretical inconsistency in the extant literature regarding digital transformation
and its related terms. It potentially contributes to developing a consistent stream of
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 23

research with differentiable concepts for theory-building and compatible research

findings to guide business practices.
This chapter also reveals the reality/phenomenon of these concepts on the practical
front, providing a clearer guideline for practitioners to develop differentiable strategic
plans for organizations to “go digital.” Leaders, executives, and employees can use
these concepts consistently while referring to specific strategizing and organizing
activities for different entities (individual, team, organization, industry, and society).
Having a clearer understanding of these phenomena’ essence helps to claim authority
and job responsibility for digital-related projects at the organizational level and makes
it easier to benchmark one’s performance against other organizations and industries
on digital transformation metrics and best practices at the industrial level.
In conclusion, the evolution of digital transformation offers an opportunity of
renewal for many organizations all over the world. Outlining the etymological and
historical reasons behind the confusion around digital transformation and analyzing
the existing literature, we proposed a solution to differentiate these concepts for the
goodness of both academic and practitioner communities. We hope that our work will
assuage the “fuzziness” issue associated with these concepts and inspire academics
and practitioners to use these terms more carefully, discriminatively, and consistently.

Disclaimer Selected portions of this chapter have previously appeared in the author’s work and
are used with permission.
Gong, C., & Ribiere, V. (2023). A historical outline of digital transformation. In Digital
Transformation in Healthcare in Post-Covid-19 Times (pp. 3–25). Academic Press, Elsevier.
Gong, C., Parisot, X., Reis, D. (2023). Die Evolution der Digitalen Transformation. In: Schallmo,
D.R.A., Lang, K., Werani, T., Krumay, B. (eds) Digitalisierung. Schwerpunkt Business Model
Innovation. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.

Appendix 1: The Etymologies of the Terms Digitization,

Digitalization, Transformation, and Digital Transformation

Terms Etymologies
Digitization The origin of “digitization” is rooted in the modern use of the verb “digitize”
(digit + -ize), which is used in reference to computer programming, meaning
“the process of converting something into the form of especially binary
digits” from 1954 (Merriam-Webster n.d)
Digitalization The origin of “digitalization” is rooted in the adjective “digital” from ancient
Latin digitus and modern Latin digitalis. It has been used in reference to
“using numerical digits” from 1938, especially “of computers which run on
data in the form of digits (opposed to analog)” after c. 1945; and “recording
or broadcasting” from 1960 (“Online Etymology Dictionary” n.d)
(continued)
24 C. Gong et al.

(continued)
Terms Etymologies
Transformation The origin of “transformation” is rooted in Old French transformation (14c.)
and directly from the Latin Church transformation (nominative
transformation) “change of shape” (transitive), noun of action from past
participle stem of transformare “change in shape, metamorphose,” from trans
“across, beyond” + formare “to form.” Intransitive sense “undergo a change
of form” is from the 1590s (“Online Etymology Dictionary” n.d)
Digital This concept consists of two terms, “digital” and “transformation.” The
transformation denomination strategy of compounding two words together combines the
halo effect of these two words’ meaning in the common language and creates
a new meaning in the scientific language (Dumez 2011). Since no single
seminal definition specifies the original scientific meaning of digital
transformation, the confusion existing between scholar’s divergent
definitions is added to the one connected to the combination of halo effects in
the common language. That is, while the meaning of “transformation” and its
established usage within practitioners’ everyday language and academic’
specialized language are clear in the common language, the meaning of the
shared root “digital” is generating confusion for the concept digital
transformation. A screening by Mertens et al. (2017) produced a list of over
2,500 different terms associated with “digital” in recent scientific literature
and financial press. This list includes almost all facets of modern social and
economic life. Such finding of diversified common meanings of “digital” also
supports the view that “digital” is the troublemaker that causes the combined
term “digital transformation” unclear

Appendix 2: The Definitions of Digitization

Authors Definitions of digitization

Negroponte (1995) “The conversion of analog to digital information and processes in a
technical sense” (p. 15)
Yoo, Henfridsson, and “The encoding of analog information into digital format” (p. 725)
Lyytinen (2010)
Katz and Koutroumpis “Digitization, per se is the process of converting analog information
(2013) to a digital format. Digitization, as a social process, refers to the
transformation of the techno-economic environment and
socio-institutional operations through digital communications and
applications” (p. 314)
OED (2014) “The action or process of digitizing; the conversion of analog data
(esp. in later use images, video, and text) into digital form”
Brennen and Kreiss “The material process of converting analog streams of information
(2016) into digital bits” (p. 1)
Legner et al. (2017) “The technical process of converting analog signals into a digital
form, and ultimately into binary digits” (p. 301)
(continued)
The Evolution of Digital Transformation 25

(continued)
Authors Definitions of digitization
Gölzer and Fritzsche “The encoding of data in digital formats” (p. 1334)
(2017)
Schallmo and Williams “Digitally enabling analog or physical artifacts for the purpose of
(2018) implementing into said artifacts into business processes with the
ultimate aim of acquiring newly formed knowledge and creating new
value for the stakeholders” (p. 5)
Bloomberg (2018) “Taking analog information and encoding it into zeroes and ones so
that computers can store, process, and transmit such information”
Verhoef et al. (2019) “The action to convert analog information into digital information”
(p. 891)
Gartner’s IT Glossary “The process of changing from analog to digital form. It takes an
(n.d.) analog process and changes it to a digital form without any
different-in-kind changes to the process itself”

Appendix 3: Digital Transformation and Digitalization’s

Defining Attributes and Frequency
26 C. Gong et al.

Note “Qual.” and “Quan.” means qualitative and quantitative research, respectively.
The abbreviation “QQ” means “qualitative + quantitative research,” indicating a
mixed-method research approach is applied in this paper. The defining attributes
were grouped based on their accumulated frequency. The core defining attributes are
shown in the first group (i.e., the top 7 for digital transformation and the top 4 for
digitalization); the peripheral ones are in the following/second group; the rest are
outsiders

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32 C. Gong et al.

Dr. Cheng Gong obtained her Ph.D. in Knowledge and Innova-

tion Management from the Institute for Knowledge and Innova-
tion, South-East Asia (IKI-SEA), Bangkok University, Thailand.
She received Young Author Recognition certificates during ITU
Kaleidoscope 2020 and was inducted into BGS (Beta Gamma
Sigma) for academic excellence. She was awarded the Top 50
Most Influential People in Tacit Knowledge Management in
2023 by GO-TKM. Her educational background and work expe-
rience in China, Russia, South Korea and Thailand have given
her a base to approach many topics. Her research interest is
in digital transformation, knowledge management, innovation
management, and change management.

Dr. Xavier Parisot was the former Program Director of

the Master in Business Innovation (MBI) and an Associate
Professor at The Institute for Knowledge and Innovation, South-
East Asia (IKI-SEA), Bangkok University. He teaches inno-
vation management, entrepreneurship and strategy, ontology,
epistemology, and research design. His research activities focus
on dynamic capabilities and open innovation implications in
the emergence of bioindustry business ecosystems.

Dr. Detlef Reis is an Innovation Advisor at The Institute

for Knowledge and Innovation, South-East Asia, Bangkok
University. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Hong
Kong Baptist University’s School of Business. Dr. Reis is also
the Founder and Chief Ideator of the innovation know-how
company Thinkergy (www.thinkergy.com). He is the creator of
four proprietary innovation methods marketed by Thinkergy:
The innovation process method and toolbox X-IDEA; the inno-
vation people profiling method TIPS; the innovation culture
transformation method CooL—Creativity UnLimited; and the
creative leadership development method Genius Journey.
Skills and Knowledges Expected
in Digital Transformation’s Era

Antonios Kargas, Elena C. Gkika, Dimitris Papakyriakopoulos,

Faidon Komisopoulos, and Spyridon Filios

Abstract Digital transformation involve a series of structural changes in all aspects

of businesses’ operations and strategies. Moreover, it involves a constant reevalua-
tion of employees’ capability to adjust to new conditions and needs. Recognizing
existing skills and knowledges is important for businesses viability while cultivation
of desired competencies needed for digital transformation is essential for growth
and competitiveness. Proposed research uses data, coming from European Skills,
Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) database, in order to provide
information about existing and forthcoming needs in terms of skills and knowledges.
Managers’ and Professionals’ occupations are examined to reveal frequent appearing
and interesting skills and knowledges. Results indicate a wide complexity of skills
as far as Professionals are concerned, while Managers have an interesting varia-
tion of future skills related with supply chain management. Research contributes
on understanding which skills and knowledges format Managers and Professionals,
two major importance occupations regarding businesses digital transformation and
development of future employees.

Keywords Skills · Knowledges · Competencies · Managers occupation

professionals occupation’ · Digital transformation · ESCO database

A. Kargas (B) · E. C. Gkika · D. Papakyriakopoulos · F. Komisopoulos · S. Filios

University of West Attica, 250 Thivon Ave., Aegaleo, 122 41 Athens, Greece
e-mail: [email protected]
E. C. Gkika
e-mail: [email protected]
D. Papakyriakopoulos
e-mail: [email protected]
F. Komisopoulos
e-mail: [email protected]
S. Filios
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 33

D. Schallmo et al. (eds.), Digital Disruption and Transformation, Springer Proceedings
in Business and Economics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47888-8_2
34 A. Kargas et al.

1 Introduction

The choice of applicants that will be successful as employees is a subject of interest

among companies’ top management. A successful candidate should have character-
istics and abilities associated with technical issues indicated by his high intelligence
quotient score. These skills are referred as “hard skills” and their nature is mostly
cognitive, technical or knowledge based.
In order to be successful, an employee should also have the necessary qualities
called “soft skills” that allow him to communicate effectively, to build interper-
sonal relationships and interact at workplace by applying effective leadership, medi-
ating or negotiating. The effective communication includes the ability of cautious
listening and fluently speaking and the demonstration of empathy to others. Soft skills
are the traits, the behaviors and the attitudes described as intangible and nontech-
nical (Seetha 2014). The soft skills are prerequisites to applying effectively technical
knowledge and skills in the working area. Schulz (2008) indicated the importance
of soft skills in an individuals’ personality. All interpersonal traits and attitudes that
make an employee distinguish among other employees are the soft skills he possesses
(Oladokun and Gbadegesin 2017).
Even though the importance of skills and competencies is wide accepted, the
framework under which labor market is structured seems to have changed signifi-
cantly over the past ten years. First of all, recruitment procedure significantly relies
on social media and talent platforms. Moreover, there is an increased mobility, with
people changing jobs more frequently than in previous years, while geographical
boundaries have been reduced and distance working reshaped what was regarded as
occupational standards. So there is a growing need for required skills/competencies
recognition accompanied with training procedures for both existing employees and
newcomers in labor market. Such a need is further strengthened by employers’ tension
to move from low-digital skills jobs to new ICT-based ones (European Commission
2022).
Current research work contributes in recognizing most significant skills and
knowledges between those occupied as “Managers” and “Professionals”. The Euro-
pean Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) database is used
to extract patterns about both occupations’ characteristics and structured profiles in
terms of skills and knowledges, while most frequent mixtures are discussed. ESCO
is a European multilingual classification database, describing, identifying and classi-
fying more than 13,000 professional occupations and more than 3000 skills relevant
for the EU labour market.
“Managers” occupation was selected as a result of its decision-making nature,
leading internal changes and implementing digital transformation or any other busi-
ness operations. Understanding which skills and knowledges format Managers occu-
pations can reveal which competencies are evaluated as significant in the business
world. According to Katz (1974), effective managers should have technical skills,
human skills and conceptual skills. Companies train their managers according to
company’s standards. The conceptual skills of a manager contribute to vision the
Skills and Knowledges Expected in Digital Transformation’s Era 35

future, to make plans and come to decisions for the best of the company (Weber et al.
2009). Moreover, “Professionals” are responsible for training future and existing
employees, alongside with research and new knowledge development. Proposed
occupation is cultivating future labour force’s competencies and it is important to
enlight its occupational characteristics.
In the next sections, the research theoretical background is presented, along-
side with the problem to be addressed and the research issues to be answered. The
measures evaluating significance of skills and knowledges are then presented and
most significant results are revealed. Finally, practical implications, limitations and
future research recommendations are provided.

2 Theoretical Background

Competencies on a working environment are composed of activities, attitudes, skills

and knowledge correlated with job performance and are measurable (Sisson and
Adams 2013). Employees’ working performance is a function of his basic knowledge
and the soft skills he possesses (Oladokun and Gbadegesin 2017). Basic knowledge
is acquired in higher educational institutions and enhanced through practical expe-
rience. This indicates the insufficiency of academic education alone to equip people
with skills and competencies required for their effective performance at a working
environment (Singh and Jaykumar 2019). The importance of interpersonal skills, of
communication skills, of technology literacy skills and of skills for emerging business
practices, as sustainability production, will increase in the near future (Krpálek et al.
2021). Flexibility and sensitivity are also important factors affecting employability.
Dynamic changes in digitalization and automation of management procedures
requires qualitative knowledge management. “Human” is a key factor in business
administration and streamline of the system is required. The requirements of the
market for the necessary competencies and soft skills are increasing. Also increases
the necessity of interdisciplinary knowledge, digital literacy, and competence-based
management (Krpálek et al. 2021).
According to Vroom’s “Expectancy Theory” (Vroom 1964) there is a relationship
between the effort put at work, the performance accomplished and the expectation
of rewards as result of the performance. Someone has a motive to acquire skills
or competencies since they believe that a good performance will lead to desired
outcomes (Seetha 2014). Bray and Howard (Bray and Howard 1983) focused on
managerial competencies by relating the personality and the motives someone has:
the motive of advancing faster than the colleagues, and the motive of achieving
high standards at work even when these standards exceed the necessary standards to
satisfy their superiors (Weber et al. 2009). E-government and digitalization increase
the demand for enhanced employee competences in the areas of information and
communication technologies. Technical skills and cognitive knowledge are required
to entry-level professionals. As their experience increases, the human skills become
necessary to upgrade their interpersonal relationships and manage effectively others,
36 A. Kargas et al.

to interact with others and invest in team building. Since managers are more qualified
and motivated, they exhibit higher levels of consciousness, openness and positive
personality traits towards employee management. Stevens and Campion (Stevens
and Campion 1994, 1999) developed a measure of “Knowledge, Skills and Abili-
ties (KSA)” for effectively staffing teams at working environment. Between setting
organizational goals and employee commitment the tacit knowledge is a valuable
mediator.
Hard competencies are a combination of technical and cognitive knowledge and
of skills, acquired by education, training and working experience. Soft competencies
are behavioral attributes, values, including ethics, attitudes and emotions expressed
through effective communication and interaction with others, in leadership, team-
work and interpersonal relations. A competency model is a descriptive measure that
identifies all knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary to perform effectively in an
organization (Lucia and Lepsinger 1999). Technical skills and abilities are required
to entry-level professionals. As their experience increases, the human skills become
necessary to upgrade their interpersonal relationships and manage effectively others,
to interact with others and invest in team building. They defined five dimensions
of competencies such as: “conflict resolution, collaborative problem solving, verbal
and non-verbal communication, setting specific goals and performance management,
planning and coordinating information and tasks to form role expectations” (Weber
et al. 2009).
Boyatzis (1982) was the first author that attempted to make a list of competencies
that would relate the managers’ performance effectiveness to specific competen-
cies. According to his list of competencies, managers’ performance was classified
at superior, average and poor. According to Boyatzis, more than 25 per cent of the
variance in managers’ performance could be attributed to these competencies. Perfor-
mance leads the earning capacity of an employee. He concluded at six clusters of
competencies namely: “goal and action management, leadership, human resources
management, directing subordinates, focus on others, and specialized knowledge”
(Boyatzis 1982).
According to Sandwith (1993), five areas of managerial competencies were iden-
tified, as: 1. Conceptual/creative: consisting of cognitive skills, 2. Leadership: make
plans and turn them to actions, 3. Interpersonal: skills to communicate effectively
with others, 4. Administrative: skills on the management of the organization, 5.
Technical: skills and knowledge on the job (Sisson and Adams 2013). Competencies
are talents brought at workplace exceeding rational behavior (Robotham and Jubb
1996; Seetha 2014). Leadership style based on individual competencies requires
the implementation of a model capturing all aspects of work in the digital world.
According to Krpálek, et al. (2021) the leadership style and the perceived develop-
ment of employees’ skills, have influenced employees’ work commitment. Effective
management includes professionalism, reliability, information management, coping
with uncertainty and working under pressure, dealing with high levels of stress.
By studying the soft skills necessary for each business environment, recruiters
have a better chance to match the right candidate ensuring in that way retention
of employees. The selection process improves, the training process is easier, the
Skills and Knowledges Expected in Digital Transformation’s Era 37

company may apply improved development programs and the performance evalua-
tion is strengthened resulting at an increased profitability (Weber et al. 2009). Ibrahim
et al., (2017), on research of managers in Malaysian private companies, resulted
that the methodology of training to acquire skills significantly predict the employee
work performance. Authors support the “time–space learning” as prominent training
methodology to transferring knowledge and skills to employees. Gibler et al. (2020)
researched on corporate real estate managers from Australia, Hong Kong, the UK and
the USA. He researched on knowledge and skills necessary for effectively practicing
corporate real estate management. The factor analysis he performed resulted at eight
factors representing the core skills and knowledge including: “strategic management
skills, physical property skills, knowledge of external threat, globalization, financial
management skills, technology skills in traditional business functions areas and inter-
personal skills”. Similarly, Tunde Oladokun (2012) concluded that “financial perfor-
mance skill, corporate strategic planning, productivity skill, space management and
customer/employer management skill” are the most important skills required for real
estate management surveyors (Oladokun and Gbadegesin 2017).
In the retail industry and in the hospitality industry candidates are expected to
have competencies in customer service, in fluent communication, and also have
interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and other soft skills, as a basic entry-level
requirement. But in the service sector, a gap is observed between the qualified entry
level employees and their availability. Employees are lacking not only hard skills but
also soft skills necessary for professional success. They lack intrapersonal skills, they
are insufficient on customer service, and they have difficulties with time management.
According to Singh and Jaykumar (2019), this gap is increasing slowly and steadily
in time.
Digital Transformation raise new requirements in all aspects of business life, from
business models and new technologies (Acatech 2016), up to new job requirements
and unique specialized skills’ set needed (Grzelczak et al. 2017; Kergroach 2017).
Additionally, it changed job requirements in a direction that expected skills and
knowledges being not always obvious (Maisiri et al. 2019). It is wide accepted that
a gap exists between existing employees’ skills needed before Industry 4.0 (Prifti
et al. 2017) and skills required to successfully implement digital transformation
(Shvetsova and Kuzmina 2018).
Moreover, new skills and competencies needed are not exclusively technologically
oriented (Schallock et al. 2018) but should exceed technological parameters (Cotet
et al. 2017) including soft—skills such as life-long learning, deep knowledge of
different disciplines, behavioral skills (Prifti et al. 2017), alongside with interpersonal
skills, confidence/motivation, ethics/integrity and critical thinking (Foutty 2019).
Such a framework led to the need for skills and competencies recognition (Lorenz
et al. 2015; Zinn 2015), as well as to the development of training programs for
practical skills, soft skills, values, entrepreneurship capabilities and other compe-
tencies (Selamat et al. 2017). Research on the topic should specify which skills and
competencies are more valuable in order to facilitate their reaching goals on digital
transformation.
38 A. Kargas et al.

3 Problem

Even though Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0 have a strong technolog-
ical orientation (Baur and Wee 2015), human factor should not be neglected
or ignored (Kargas et al. 2022b) as a result of the increased level of skill’s/
knowledge’s complexity required from the workforce of the future (Maisiri et al.
2019). Employees’ characteristics, skills and knowledge are gaining research interest
as a source of development (Gkika et al. 2022) and as a mean to reach innovation
(Kargas et al. 2022a).
Current paper focus on enlightening which are the current needs on skills/
knowledges alongside with tensions on skills/knowledges related with innovation
development, when it comes with occupations such as “Managers” and “Profes-
sionals”. Proposed research aims on revealing existing patterns between executives
of these two occupations and recognizing in which skills and knowledges does
innovation lies between, as a mean to gain a competitive advantage under digital
transformation’s era.

4 Research Objective and Questions

Research’s objectives are to discover frequent or interesting patterns related with

the occupations of “Managers” and “Professionals” by using data gathered from the
ESCO database. A frequent collection of skills and knowledges (itemset) could indi-
cate the core requirements within the same occupation hierarchy, revealing existing
situation in both “Managers” and “Professionals” occupations. Likewise, interesting
variations among similar occupations could signal an innovation pursuit leveraged
by technological interventions or market advancements at the same occupations.
Research questions answered under current research are:
● Which are the frequent patterns of skills and knowledges when it comes to
“Managers” and “Professionals” occupations?
● Which are the interesting patterns of skills and knowledges when it comes to
“Managers” and “Professionals” occupations?
● Do exist patterns of skills and knowledges promising a more innovational
orientation?

5 Research Design

Research methodology is based on discovering key associations between the various

Skills and Knowledges regarding each occupation described in previous sections.
Proposed methodology is suitable for exploratory research purposes (Agrawal et al.
Skills and Knowledges Expected in Digital Transformation’s Era 39

1993) and is part of the machine learning field. Association rules used to express
patterns between occupations and skills/knowledges are:
● Support: is the percentage of groups that contain all of the items listed in that
association rule compared to the total items in the category.
● Lift: is a measure of importance and express the deviation of the rule from the
model of statistic independency between the antecedent (if) part of the rule and
the consequence. In other words, a part of the itemset has a positively (favour) into
a specific item and empirically when Lift > 2 it is considered as rule for further
elaboration.
High support indicates an expected mixture of skills/knowledges regarding the
occupations of Managers and Professionals, while high lift value indicates interesting
variations which highlight certain areas of innovation. The relationship between the
Occupation’s collection and the Skills/Knowledges’ collections is supported by an
intermediate data set listing the occupation, the associated skill and competences
and whether a knowledge or skill has essential (or optional) role for an occupation.
Analysis conducted reviewed optional skills and knowledge as required in order to
in depth study all existing possible relations.

6 Findings

Conducted analysis targeted two distinct occupations, namely “Managers” and

“Professionals”. Each occupation is described through and occupational profile,
containing description, scope and a list of skills and knowledges that are considered
as essential on a European scale.
Managers occupations’ category involve tasks of planning, organizing and evalu-
ating activities in any type of organization (governmental or enterprises) as a whole
or at the level of organizational unit, while as part of the job it is included the formula-
tion/reviewing of rules, regulations or policies as well (European Commission 2022).
Proposed occupation is classified into four major sub-groups: (a) Chief Executives,
Senior Officials and Legislators, (b) Administrative and Commercial Managers, (c)
Production and Specialized Services Managers and (d) Hospitality, Retail and Other
Services Managers.
Professionals occupations’ category involve tasks of increasing stock of knowl-
edge, applying scientific concepts and theories and teaching about the foregoing
(European Commission 2022). Proposed occupation is classified into six major sub-
groups: (a) Science and Engineering Professionals, (b) Health Professionals, (c)
Teaching Professionals, (d) Business and Administration Professionals, (e) Infor-
mation and Communications Technology Professionals and (f) Legal, Social and
Cultural Professionals.
At a first level of analysis, the twelve (12) most frequent appearing skills/
knowledges for both occupations were detected. Table 1 presents these frequent
appearing skills/knowledges which are totally different from the one occupation to
40 A. Kargas et al.

Table 1 Most frequent appearing skills and knowledges

A/A Managers’ occupation Professionals’ occupation
1 Manage staff (skill) Perform scientific research (skill)
2 Manage budget (skill) Perform project management (skill)
3 Create solutions to problems (skill) Think analytically (skill)
4 Recruit employees (skill) Speak different languages (skill)
5 Adhere to organizational guidelines (skill) Manage personal—professional
development (skill)
6 Have computer literacy (skill) Scientific research methodology
(knowledge)
7 Maintain relationship with customers (skill) Write scientific publications (skills)
8 Use different communication channels Mentor individuals (skills)
(skill)
9 Ensure customs compliance (skill) Applying teaching strategies (skill)
10 Perform financial risk management in Publish academic research (skill)
international trade (skill)
11 Maintain relationship with supplies (skill) Think abstractly (skill)
12 Employment law (knowledge) Teach in academic or vocational
contexts (skill)

the other. Such a diversity is the result of each occupation’s nature and the different
priorities set to effectively perform it.
As far as Managers’ occupation is concerned, all items have a relative frequency
of more than 20%, while “manage budget” and “manage staff” have an item relative
frequency of more than 40 and 60% respectively. In contrast when it comes to Profes-
sionals’ occupation the twelve most frequent appearing skills and knowledges have a
small relative frequency of 0.1%, with “Perform Scientific Research” and “Perform
Project Management” exceeding 0.2%. Such a condition indicates that Professionals
have a larger variety of skills and knowledges, while there exist no skill or knowledge
being decisive for the occupation’s formation. Finally, it is worth mentioning, that
for both occupations under research, only one item out of the twelve most frequent
appearing skills/knowledge represents a knowledge, while all the rest include skills
oriented items.
At a second level of analysis and in order to enrich our understanding “Support”
measure was investigated. What is valuable with “Support” is that helps identify rules
that are worth considering in order to expand our analysis. Such rules can include
the number of Skills/Knowledges that form an itemset. In such a case the higher the
“Support” the more information can be extracted regarding the relationship between
its items. Research put emphasis on investigating itemsets of at least four (4) Skills/
Knowledges and the frequency of appearance among all managers’ occupations.
When it comes to Managers’ occupation, results are presented in Fig. 1, revealing
that in the core of the above—mentioned analysis lie Skills/Knowledges such as:
Skills and Knowledges Expected in Digital Transformation’s Era 41

Fig. 1 Managers’ support graph

1. Manage Staff (Skill),

2. Manage Budget (Skill),
3. Maintain Relationship with Customers (Skill),
4. Adhere to Organizational Guidelines (Skill),
5. Maintain Relationship with Suppliers (Skill),
6. Recruit employees (Skill)
7. Employment Law (Knowledge),
8. Monitor Customer Service (Skill) and
9. Study Sales—Levels of Products (Skill).
These eight (8) skills and one (1) knowledge are more frequently appearing when
itemsets of fours are studied. The first six are also having a high frequency appearance
when studied as stand-alone measures, while the rest four seem to be the most frequent
appearing supplementary skills (Fig. 1).
At the same time, Professionals’ occupation has a large number of skills
contributing to its formation. There exist 3 times more skills required in Profes-
sionals than in Managers. More precisely there exist thirty-one (31) skills formatting
the proposed occupation, while there exist no specific knowledge. Namely, the skills
more frequently appearing when itemsets of fours are studied include:
1. Communicate with a non-scientific audience (Skill),
2. Synthesize information (Skill),
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the manner in which Christianity was presented to men, for the
method of operation by which in so short a time it so wonderfully
overcame the stern ritualism of the Jew and the fair sensualism of
the Greek, we must look to the actual facts of the great early
conversions as they are presented to us in the apostolic memoirs of
Luke. Let us see therefore, in the first place, what we can learn from
the early chapters of that most interesting narrative. Now, the
starting-point here plainly is the effusion of the Holy Ghost, an
influence which, whether we take it on this first occasion as
miraculous, according to the traditional understanding of the Church,
or as something extraordinary but in the course of nature, is a
phenomenon altogether different in kind from the action of
arguments upon the ratiocinative faculty of the mind, and had
indeed been preceded not by inductions or deductions, or analytic
dissections, or any scholastic exercitations at all, but by meetings for
social prayer (i. 14)—prayer which is the great feeder of the moral
nature of man when reverting to the original source of all moral life
in the form of religion. It was therefore not in the philosophic way of
debate and discussion, but in the religious way of inspiration that the
regenerative afflatus of the first Christian Ethics came upon the
Jewish and Hellenic world; and it worked, let us say, by a fervid
moral contagion, not by the suasion of cool argument. And there can
be no doubt, that if even in the intellectual world a wise ancient
might justly say, Nemo vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam
fuit, much more in the world of moral and political action it is by the
infection of noble passions that men are moved to any grand issues,
not by the cogency of strong arguments. Melanchthon was as good
a reasoner as Martin Luther, perhaps a better, but he had not the
volcanic fire of his fellow; and it was an eruption of this fire only that
could prevail to shake the stout pillars of the Popedom. And it was
by an influence manifestly quite akin to the impetuous energetic
eloquence of the great Saxon reformer, that by the first sermon of
the Apostle Peter, as we read, great masses of men were suddenly
pricked in their hearts, conscience-stung as we phrase it, and in one
day three thousand human beings, previously indifferent or hostile,
were added to the new moral community afterwards called the
Christian Church. Precisely similar in modern times has been the
action of the so-called religious revivals, which, from the days of the
Methodists downwards, have done so much in this country to rouse
from a state of moral lethargy the most neglected and the most
abandoned portions of the community. Of Martin Boos, the
celebrated Bavarian evangelist, we are told that his “sermon was as
if he poured forth flame;”[198.1] and not less striking were the moral
effects of the eloquent Whitefield when he drew the tears in white
gutters down the grimy cheeks of the congregated Bristol colliers,
and, what is even more significant of his power, in Savannah elicited
from the prudential pockets of sage Benjamin Franklin, sitting before
the preacher with a stiff determination not to contribute, first a
handful of coppers, then three or four silver dollars, and then five
golden pistoles![198.2] Preachings of this kind have been the subject
of scoffing with light-witted persons in all ages; but they stand firm
as grave attestations of the fact that the Christian method of
conversion, not by logical arguments, but by moral contagion and
the effusion of the Holy Ghost, has, with the masses of mankind,
always proved itself the most effective. Socrates did much more
perhaps as a reformer of sinners than any preacher in the guise of a
philosopher ever did; but he could not have done what Whitefield
did with the colliers. The arguments of Socrates convinced the few;
but the fervour of Peter, the loftiness of his religious position, and
the felt firmness of his historical foundation converted the many.
And this brings us to the second important point in the original
attitude of Christianity, and the manner in which it moved the moral
world. This point is the historical foundation on which the moral
appeal stood; and this historical foundation was the miraculous life,
death, and resurrection of the Founder of the ethical religion. It
concerns us not to inquire here, whether Christ was a real person,
or, as certain Germans with their ingenious whimsicality will have it,
a mere myth; as little need we ask whether the miracles were really
suspensions of the laws of nature, or were mere acts of remarkable
power somewhat exaggerated by the wondering narrators; much
less can it be necessary for the present argument to weigh the
evidence for the great crowning miracle of the resurrection.
Concerning these matters, every man must either judge for himself
or take the authority of nearly two thousand years of effective
Christian teaching as a sufficient guarantee. But what we have to do
with here is simply this: that these facts were believed, that the
Apostles stood upon these facts, and that the ethical efficiency of
Christianity was rooted in these facts. Take the facts away, or the
assured belief in the facts, and the existence of such an ethico-
religious society as the Christian Church becomes, under the
circumstances, impossible. Consider what an effect the personality of
Socrates had in establishing what we with no great license of
language may call the Socratic Church in Athens. The various
schools of philosophy, first in Athens and then in Rome, were sects
of that Church. Had Socrates not lived and died with visible power
and effect before men, the existence of these schools, fathered by
this great teacher, would have been impossible. A person is the
necessary nucleus round which all social organisms form themselves.
But the personality of Socrates was a much less important element
in the formation of the Socratic schools than that of Christ was in the
formation of the Christian Church. Socrates was only a teacher—one
who, like other teachers, might in time create disciples as wise,
perhaps wiser than, himself; Christ was a redeemer, whose function
as such could be performed by no vicar, and transmitted to no
successor: the one was a help and a guide, the other a foundation of
faith and a fountain of life. Socrates taught his disciples to become
independent of him, and rely on their own perfected reason; from
Christ His disciples always derive nourishment, as the branches from
the vine. And if the relation of Christ to His disciples, conceived only
as a living Saviour walking on the earth, was so much closer than
that of Socrates to his disciples, how much more intimate does the
relation become, when He who lived and died to redeem humanity
from sin rose from the dead as a living guarantee that all who
walked in His ways, should follow up their redemption from sin by a
speedy victory over that yet stronger enemy. Death![200.1] From the
moment that the resurrection stood amongst the disciples as an
accepted fact, the Founder of the religion was not merely a wonder-
working man, a prophet and the greatest of all the prophets, but He
was an altogether exceptional and miraculous Person, either God in
some mysterious way combined into an incorporate unity with man,
or at least a Person that, compared with the common type and
expression of humanity, might pass for God. The influence which the
belief in the actual existence of such a human, and yet in so many
regards superhuman, character as the Founder of their faith, must
have exercised on the early preachers of the gospel, cannot easily
be over-estimated. Plato and Plotinus often talk of the raptures with
which the human soul would be thrilled if not only, as now, the
shadows and types of the Beautiful, but the very absolute Beautiful
itself, the αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν, stood revealed to mortal sight. But
granting for the moment that the manifestation of such a vague
abstraction is possible, it is quite certain that, when manifested, it
could not possibly act upon men with anything like the power of a
human Christ actually risen from the dead. Man, with all his range of
imagination, is at bottom as much concrete as any creature, and as
little capable of being moved by mere abstractions. Jesus Christ, and
Him crucified; Christ risen from the dead; believe in Him—this was
the short summation of that preaching of the gospel which
regenerated the then world, lying as it did in all sorts of wickedness.
See how emphatically the resurrection is alluded to as the main
anchor in all the early preachings of the Apostles (Acts ii. 32; iii. 15;
iv. 2; v. 30, etc.) And as to St. Paul, he declares again and again that
if Christ be not risen, the faith of Christians is vain, and those to
whom the world was indebted for its moral regeneration were justly
to be accounted amongst the most miserable of men; a method of
speaking which plainly implies that, in the Apostle’s estimation, the
firm fact of a risen Saviour was the only real assurance that
Christians had of a life beyond the grave. So true is the utterance of
a distinguished modern divine that “the resurrection was the central
point of the apostolic teaching, nay more, the central point of
history, primarily of religious history, of which it is the soul. The
resurrection is the one central link between the seen and the
unseen.”[202.1] Let this, therefore, stand firm as the main principle of
any just exposition of the machinery by which the ethics of the
gospel achieved the conquest of the world. The Church—“the
peculiar people zealous for good works,” of whom St. Peter speaks—
was formed out of the world not by the clear cogency of logical
arguments, but by the vivid belief in miraculous facts.
But the miraculous personality of the teacher, however essential
to the proclamation and reception of the teaching, was not the
teaching itself. There were doctrines of an essentially theological
character, and strong emotions that only religion could excite, which
operated along with the unique personality of the Founder in laying
a firm foundation for the ethics of the gospel. The most important of
these doctrines was the doctrine of the unity of the Godhead. This is
a matter with which in Christian countries we are now so familiar
that not a few find it difficult to realize how prominent an element it
was in the Christian creed, and how powerful must have been its
action in the creation of a new school of morals in the midst of the
heathen world. By the Fathers of the Church, however, in the first
and second centuries, the ethical virtue of this element was never
overlooked; they knew only too well, from their own personal
experience most of them, and all of them by what they saw written
in the habits and maxims of a corrupt society, how easily Polytheism
had lent itself to draw a beautiful veil over what was ugly, and to
stamp the most debasing vices with consecration. Philosophers, like
Xenophanes and Plato, in whose breasts these things had long ago
roused a rebellious indignation, might well despair of converting to a
pure morality a people who, though they might be sober on all the
other days of the year, would think it necessary, as an act of piety, to
appear publicly intoxicated on the feast of Dionysus. The salt of
goodness, it is quite true, which kept the body of Polytheism so long
from rotting, has often been overlooked, principally by the
exaggeration of Christian writers, seldom remarkable for candour;
and the early Fathers of the Church, engaged, as they were, in
actual warfare with the many-headed foe, may well be excused if
their zeal was not always accompanied by that fairness to which
even error is entitled. But with the most honest purpose to do justice
to the moral element of Polytheism, as we may find it exhibited most
favourably perhaps in the living pictures of the Homeric poems, it
cannot be denied that the obvious deduction from the Polytheistic
creed was, in all cases to palliate, in some cases even to justify, vice;
and that this deduction was often made we may gather from the
familiar fact that the most illogical people even now suddenly
become very acute reasoners, the moment it is necessary to defend
their prejudices, or to protest against the amendment of their faults.
In a system of faith, where every instinct had its god, and every
passion its patron-saint, it required either a rare training, or a
remarkably healthy habit of mind to keep the low and the high in
their just seats of subordination and supremacy. No doubt the more
imperative moral virtues to a well-constituted Heathen mind were
conceived as represented by Jove, who was the real moral governor
of the world; and the supremacy of Zeus in Olympus was a sufficient
assertion of the superiority which belongs to the moral law in the
little republic of the soul: but as the son of Kronos in the Greek
heaven was only a limited monarch, and often, as the Iliad plainly
indicates, obliged to wink at the contravention of his own commands
by the unruly aristocracy of the skies, so Polytheism could never
invest the τὸ ἡγεμονικόν—the regulating principle of the soul—with
the absolute sovereignty which to its nature rightfully belongs.
Christianity, as an essentially monotheistic faith, applied a perfect
remedy to this evil. The highest part of man’s nature was now the
only sacred part. The flesh, so far from being glorified and
worshipped, was denounced, degraded, and desecrated as a
synonym for all corruption. The deification of mere sensuous
pleasures, which with Polytheists had passed for orthodox, was now
impossible; the moral law became supreme; and surely the sanction
which this law requires can never be conceived in more imperative
terms than as the distinctly enunciated command of the all-powerful,
all-wise, and all-beneficent Father of the human family. No sanction,
deduced from a mere reasoning process, can ever approach this in
broad practical efficiency. It is the impersonated, incarnated, and
enthroned Reason, to which all reasonable creatures owe an
instinctive and a necessary obedience.
But there is another corollary to a monotheistic creed, which, in
estimating the influence of Christian faith on Christian Ethics, is by
no means to be overlooked. If there is only one God, the father of
the whole human race, then there is only one family; all men are
brethren; nationality ceases; philanthropy, or love of men in the
widest sense of the word, becomes natural; mere patriotism has
now only a relative value; Leonidas is no longer the model hero; the
Jew is no longer of the one chosen people; and the Greek, full of
wisdom, and full of conceit, must condescend to call the ignorant
barbarian his brother. This breaking down of the middle wall of
partition between Jew and Gentile, between every nation and its
neighbour, removed two of the greatest obstructions which have
ever stood in the way of a generous morality, in the shape of what
Lord Bacon would have called idols of the place and of the race;
these idols could be worshipped no longer; and no shibboleth of
separation could be mumbled to consecrate the unreasonable
prejudices which every nation is so apt to entertain against its
neighbour. No doubt towards the propagation of these catholic and
cosmopolitan principles, ancient philosophy also, and specially
Stoicism, contributed its share;[205.1] the consolidation of the Roman
empire and the policy of the Roman emperors worked in the same
direction; but the monotheistic creed of the Christian Church,
proclaimed with such dignity and moral courage by St. Paul in his
discourse on the Hill of Mars, supplied the only effective leverage.
Compared with what the preaching of St. Paul did for the grand idea,
of humanity and fraternity, all that modern science, modern political
theories, modern commerce, and modern philosophies have
achieved or may yet achieve, can only be counted as a very small
supplement.
The immortality of the soul, the second coming of Christ, and
the final judgment of the world, form together a group of doctrines,
the relation of which to moral practice is too deeply felt to require
much discussion in this place. Perhaps, however, everybody does not
sufficiently consider how peculiarly Christian these doctrines are, and
how the belief in them, and the moral issues of such belief, must
necessarily stand and fall with the faith in some such historical
religion as has hitherto formed the framework of the Churches of
Christendom. For however these doctrines might be dimly conceived
and vaguely believed by the people who wrote D. M. upon their
tombstones, and however solemnly imagined and grandly depicted
they were in the eloquent discourses of the great philosopher of
Idealism, there are few mistakes greater than to accept these dim
conceptions and grand imaginings as a proof that the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul, as a point of Polytheistic faith, performed the
same function in moulding the morality of the ancient Greeks and
Romans that it does at the present day among modern Christian
peoples. A single quotation—one of the most trite—from Homer will
suffice to show how utterly unfounded such an idea is. In the
Cimmerian visit to the unseen world, the wandering king of Ithaca is
made to encounter the hot thane of Thessaly, pacing with a stately
fierceness through the Elysian fields, like a king among the shades.
On being complimented to this effect by his visitor, the son of Peleus
replies—
 “Name me not death with praiseful words, noble Ulysses; I
Would sooner be a bonded serf, the labourer’s tool to ply
To a small cottar on the heath with wealth exceeding small,
Than be the Lord of all the Shades in Pluto’s gloomy hall.”
A people who could think and speak thus of the state of souls
after departure from the body, could not derive much practical
advantage from belief in immortality. That belief indeed was held so
loosely by the mass of the Greek people that it may rather be
described as a dim imagination than as a definite conviction. People
were rather unwilling to believe that their beloved human friends
had vanished into the realm of nothingness, than convinced that
they had gone to where on any account it would be at all desirable
to go. To a few select heroes no doubt, men like Menelaus, of divine
extraction, and divine affinity, a really enviable abode after death in
the cloudless and stormless islands of the blest was by popular
tradition assigned; a few perpetrators also of enormous crimes, red-
hand murderers, open blasphemers, and traitors who sold their
country for gold were consigned for ever to the ensanguined
scourge of the Furies in those flaring regions which the genius of
Virgil and Dante has so vividly portrayed; but if the belief in these
exceptional cases inspired some to acts of unwonted heroism and
deterred others from deeds of abhorred foulness, the very good and
the very bad in the world are too few in number to admit of the idea
that the motives which either stir them to acts of exceptive virtue or
deter them from acts of abnormal crime should have any influence in
determining the conduct of the great masses. And as for the
philosophers, it was Socrates only and Plato who in their teaching
gave any special emphasis to the doctrine of the immortality of the
soul; and no man who has read the most familiar accounts of the
defence which the former delivered to the jury at his trial, or of his
last moments as reported by Plato in the Phædo, can have carried
off the impression that the great father of moral philosophy taught
that doctrine with any dogmatic decision or certainty. We must say
therefore, with Dr. Paley, who, though incapable of sounding great
depths, had a very clear head, and was a very sensible man, that it
was the gospel, and the gospel alone, which “brought life and
immortality to light,” and with it introduced whatever real power in
elevating or strengthening the moral nature of man such a doctrine,
when held as a habitual conviction, must exercise over the masses
of men. What Socrates contemplated calmly as a probable
contingency, St Paul and the early Christians gloried in as a grand
culmination and a triumphant result. And the effective influence of
this firm faith on society has been to give an infinitely greater dignity
to human life, to increase infinitely the moral worth of the individual,
and to add a support of wonderful efficacy to those states and
stages of toilsome existence which stand so much in need of such
hopeful consolation. That it has always acted, and must always act,
as a strong aid to virtuous conduct can scarcely be denied, though
they of course are poor philosophers and ignoble men who think
that virtue could not possibly exist in the world without the belief in
immortality. There are many motives that force the masses of men
to be virtuous, according to the respectable righteousness of the
Scribes and Pharisees, altogether independent of any prospect of
rewards and punishments in a future state; and as for men of a
more than commonly delicate moral sensibility—persons to whom a
life in baseness and foulness would under any conditions be
intolerable—it is not to be imagined that they would be more
virtuous from the prospect of an eternity of bliss, than they are from
the fear of a short season of shame. These men will always live
nobly, for the same reason that whatever they do they must do well.
If they play cricket, they will play a good game; if they ride, they will
ride well; and if they boat, they will boat well; and, for the same
reason, if they live, they will live well—not because they expect a
reward, but because they have no pleasure in living badly. To them
vice is always rottenness, putrescence, and loathsomeness; and no
man will consciously condemn himself to these who knows what
soundness means.
There is one marked peculiarity about Christian Ethics, growing
directly out of a religious root, and closely connected with certain
theological doctrines, which, though indicated in some of the
previous paragraphs, demands special mention here. We mean what
Dr. Chalmers called its aggressive attitude. The idea of Duty is not
necessarily aggressive; a man may perform his duty quietly, as the
spheres move in their orbits, without daring, or even desiring, to
meddle with the movements of other members of the great social
machine. Even Christian Churches in quiet and flat times, as the last
century for instance, have been known to content themselves with
the unobtrusive performance of a certain round of familiar pieties,
undisturbed by any desire to make moral inroads into the domain of
remote or even adjacent heathenism. But this is certainly not the
normal or flourishing state of any Christian Church; not the natural
state indeed of any sect or society, whether religious or
philosophical, professing to possess a healing medicine for the cure
of diseased souls. We accordingly found in the first discourse that
Socrates was in his attitude, however pleasant and playful on the
surface, at bottom very earnestly aggressive; it was this
aggressiveness, in fact, that raised up against him the hostility of
those spiteful little individuals to whom more than to popular ill-will
he owed his martyr-death. He asserted, as we have seen, a divine
mission, and acted as a missionary, though always in the manner of
a reasoner rather than as a preacher. But the aggressive element in
early Christianity was much stronger than in Socrates; as any one
may see at a glance by comparing the biographical career of St. Paul
with that of the Athenian philosopher. And the causes of this were
more than one. In the first place, the whole Hebrew nature was
more fervid, more impassioned, more prophetic than the Hellenic;
and again, the autocratic character which belongs to all monotheism,
imparted to the moral message of the missionaries an urgency and a
lofty intolerance, which in an atmosphere compounded of polytheism
in its lower sphere and of logic in its upper sphere was impossible. A
divine command superadded to fervid human sympathies necessarily
creates a mission in the person who is the subject of them; but the
divine command is much more stringent from an autocratic Jehovah
than from a limited monarch like Jove, and the fervour of human
sympathy is more intense in proportion as the offence of the rebels
against the sovereign authority is looked upon as more heinous. We
are brought back therefore again to the great doctrine of the Divine
Unity, if we would make it fully evident to ourselves why St. Paul was
so much more aggressive than Socrates: Socrates was only partly a
missionary, and the messenger of a god whose authority was limited
by an inferior but acknowledged authority in other gods; St. Paul
was a missionary of the one true God, to whose authority there
could be no limit, and to whose command there could be no
contradiction. From this principle of divine autocracy there
necessarily grew up the conception of sin, not as folly merely and
imperfection, but as contumacy, rebellion, and treason; and the
conviction of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the exceeding
misery of the sinner became the strongest spur to the missionary
activity of the Christian preachers, and gave a true moral sublimity
to an aggressive attitude, which in a mere reasoner had appeared
impertinent. Nothing indeed is more remarkable than the contrast
between the strong colours in which sin is painted by the writers of
the New Testament and its more venial aspect in the mild regard of
the philosopher. Aristotle can surrender a whole generation of young
men to the dominion of πάθος and think nothing more about it. They
are as incapable of moral ideas, these young sensualists, as swine
are of cleanliness; let them wallow in the mire for a season; we shall
speak to them, when they have outgrown their animalism. But the
converted Pharisee who wrote his burning epistles to the young
Christian churches in magnificent Rome and luxurious Ephesus used
very different language. Sin with him is a very serious offence, on
account of which the curse of God lies on the whole world. Sinners,
whether old or young, are by nature the children of wrath; and by
the act and fact of the transgression of divine law, so utterly cast
down and degraded from the proper human dignity, that they
require to be born again, and baptized with a fire-baptism before
they can be purified from their foulness and restored to the original
rights and privileges which belonged to them, as to all men, in right
of their divine fatherhood. Hence the strongly accentuated
opposition between flesh and spirit (Romans vii. viii.; 1 Pet. iv. 3, 4)
which no doubt Aristotle, as we have seen above, also mentions; but
in the Stagirite it is only an incidental recognition; in the New
Testament it is a pervading and overwhelming power, a force which
possesses the atmosphere, a moral storm, which, swooping violently
down from the dark-throned seat of the Supreme Regent, tears the
cloak of self-righteousness from the shivering sinner, and exposes
him in all his bareness. Plato also and Plotinus use very Christian
language when they tell us that to be partakers of true moral beauty
the soul requires a κάθαρσις or purification from its natural or
acquired foulness, and that the necessity of this purification was
symbolically indicated in the mysteries.[213.1] Very true; but here
again Plato wrote calmly for the few, Paul preached fervidly for the
many. And this word purification, as connected with the Christian
idea of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the necessity of an
ingrafting of a higher moral life by the operation of the Divine Spirit,
leads me necessarily to specialize the doctrine of the Atonement as
performing a peculiar function in the ethical attitude and moral
efficiency of the gospel. The doctrine of the Atonement arises as the
necessary consequence of the Christian conception of sin as a
polluting, perverting, rebellious, and treasonable principle. An error
is reasoned away, but filth must be washed away; guilt must be
atoned; the offender must pray for forgiveness; and the free grace
of the Sovereign must restore the traitor to the place and the
protection which belong to him as a loyal subject. Put into a strictly
articulate form, this doctrine of atonement, not less than its
correlative the exceeding sinfulness of sin, especially when pushed
to its extreme of logical consistency by the so-called federal
theologians, is apt to give, and has always given, more or less just
cause of offence to speculative minds; but in that broad practical
aspect in which it was originally presented to the world, before men
began to turn a fervid faith into a curious theology, there can be no
doubt that it operated most beneficially in intensifying that hatred of
sin which is the mother of all holiness, and in enabling many a guilt-
laden soul to start on the career of a regenerate life with a
comfortable lightness and an unfettered speed, which from no other
source could have flowed so readily.
The plan of this discourse leads us in the next place to consider
the individual virtues to which, by their radical connexion with
religion and a theological creed, Christian Ethics have shown a
preference. But before attempting this it is obvious to remark how,
by the atmosphere of piety in which they grow, and the theological
soil in which they are rooted, the Christian virtues, as a whole and
individually, are elevated to a much higher platform than belongs to
any system of mere moral philosophy; and from this point of view
we can understand how the divines of the school called Evangelical
have been led to look down with such contempt as they generally do
on every form of Christian preaching in which a round of mere moral
duties is held up as in itself capable of performing the functions of a
truly Christian life. The Evangelicals, narrow and bigoted as they too
often are, especially in points of artificial and traditional orthodoxy,
which they are unable to separate from the essence of the gospel,
were quite right in this matter. It is not the mere duties performed,
but the motives from which, and the inspiration by which, they are
performed, that make the moral life of a truly Christian man so
excellent. It is not merely that he is morally correct in all his
intercourse with his fellow-men; not merely that he is richly
furnished perhaps with all those born amiabilities which an acute
Scotch speculator has designated as but the painted masks of virtue;
[214.1]
the world may shower its plaudits on such cheap forms of
native goodness as loudly as it pleases; Christian morality, by virtue
of its lofty religious inspiration, aims at something more; the mere
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees it looks upon as an
attainment utterly unworthy of a high moral ambition, as a vulgar
something, the contentment with which would indicate an entire
absence of that pure moral ideal, with the acknowledgment of which
a religious morality—a system of ethics founded on the worship of
the one true God—must necessarily start. Whatever morality the
world may possess, as absolutely indispensable for the common
movements of the social machine, Christianity, of course, accepts,
but makes no account of in its characteristic appeals. It is rather the
low maxims, the false authorities, and the spurious virtues, mixed up
with the vulgar morality of the many, that it most mercilessly
exposes and protests against. “Be not conformed to this world, but
be ye transformed in the renewing of your minds.” “But you are an
elect people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Such is the lofty tone
which it assumes, and from the days of St. Paul to Xavier and
Howard has justified the assumption amply by its deeds. It aspires
not merely to be moral; it would be the poetry of morality in a world
where prose is the common currency. It intends to hold up to the
whole human family a divine ideal of social heroism, which may
some day be universally admired but which never can be universally
enacted.
Let us now look at the beautiful portraiture of the Christian man
in the detail of his most characteristic virtues.
And first, as the starting-point here, we must observe that the
Christian is pre-eminently equipped with that self-denial and self-
control, and what we generally call strength of character, which are
the necessary postulates of all moral excellence. A man who will take
the world easily will never take it grandly; χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά· omnia
præclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt: all excellent things are
difficult; the Christian recognises the difficulty, but delights in it as
the stout old Roman did in the foes which added fuel to his victories,
or as the strong modern engineer does in mountains, that he may
show the triumph of his art in boring through them or winding round
them. Modern sensualists and preachers of the low doctrine that
pleasure is the only good have delighted to fling discredit on this
grand Christian virtue of self-denial, as if anything great ever was
performed without it. The man of genius denies himself in a
thousand ways that he may work out a perfect body for the
imaginary ideals which possess him; the great soldier denies himself
through leagues of hardship that he may repel the rude invader and
preserve the honour of his country unstained; and the man of virtue
must deny himself also, if virtue is a thing which a creature of high
enterprise and lofty purpose may reasonably have to do with. To lie
in the lap of pleasure may be the highest enjoyment of which a
feeble character is capable; the alternation betwixt sensuous languor
and sensuous excitement may be the only grateful change of which
a predominantly sensuous nature can be made to partake; but a
strong man must have something difficult to do; and the strong
Christian man has to “work out his salvation with fear and
trembling;” to mortify the body, lest being overindulged it should
learn to be the master instead of the servant of the soul; and “laying
aside every weighty and the sin which more easily besets him,” learn
to “run with patience the race which is set before him.” What race?
The race of realizing as much goodness as possible in his own
personal life lend in the life of that society of which he is a part, by
the twofold process of nursing virtues and weeding out vices: an
ideal which never can be reached by those who commence life, after
the Epicurean fashion, with a low calculation of pleasures and pains,
but by those only who we inspired by the vision of what Plato
preached as divine ideas, and Paul as divine commands. The
recognition of a divine ideal in some shape or other is the first step
to the prosecution of a divine life; and this alone can supply the
inspiration which makes difficulty easy, educes pleasure from pain,
and converts the most severe acts of self-denial into the materials of
an elevating warfare, and the occasion of a glorious triumph.
Very closely connected with the stern self-denial and the manly
strength of character so conspicuous in the first Christians was their
moral courage. It requires very little knowledge of the world and
experience of life to be made aware, in the case of those who are
capable of being made aware of these things, that the general
habitude of the world is not moral courage, but moral cowardice.
The majority of men, like the majority of dogs I presume, are not
physical cowards; the dog is naturally a fighting animal, and so is
man. But that the majority of men are moral cowards is certain. No
consideration is so powerful with schoolboys as that of being
laughed at for any singularity in dress or appearance; the slavery of
fashion among grown-up persons is founded partly on the same
dread; and the fear of standing in a minority restrains many a man
in public life from giving voice to a salutary truth, and planting a gag
on the barking mouth of popular error. I have myself been present at
meetings of corporate bodies, where I gave my suffrage, confident
that I was right in acting consistently on a plain principle of common
honesty; and after the vote was taken I was told confidentially by
some of those who had voted against my views, that they had a
strong conviction I was in the right, only they could not venture to
vote with me in the face of such an overwhelming majority! This is
the moral courage of the world. ‘Have any of the Scribes and
Pharisees believed in him? If so, we will speak out; if not, we keep
silence.’ This tendency to follow authority is in many persons, no
doubt, the necessary consequence of their own ignorance; ignorance
is always afraid, and it knows by a sure instinct that its only safety
lies in being led by superior knowledge. This no one can blame. But
when a man acts against his own conviction in giving his vote as a
member of a corporate body, or in a political assembly, to shield
himself from the indignation or to gain the favour of an
unreasonable multitude,—when, as in pure democracy, the question
of right and wrong never comes before a man at all, but the one rule
of political life simply is to submit to what such and such a local
majority may choose to dictate,—this is sheer cowardice and simple
slavery, from which a man of honourable and independent mind, not
tainted with the baseness of democratic life, must shrink with
abhorrence. And so in fact we do find that in democratic countries,
where all things are controlled by political cliques, who dictate the
local policy, to which the puppet called a Member of Parliament, or a
Deputy, is expected to swear, men of independent spirit, manly
courage, and large intelligence are found systematically to shrink
from the arena. How different from this demoralizing miasma is the
atmosphere which we breathe in the New Testament! There a single
manly individual stands forward, and in the name of God solemnly
calls upon men to renounce the dearly-cherished errors, and to
trample under foot the warmly-worshipped idols of a whole people.
“If it be lawful in the sight of God to hearken unto men rather than
unto God, judge ye!” This is what Peter said, speaking the truth
boldly, in the face of roaring multitudes, frowning dignitaries, and
lines of bristling lances. A religion in which such rare manhood was
as common as cowardice is common in general society, if it was not
crushed in the bud, as Protestantism was in Bohemia, could not but
grow up to a mighty tree in the end. The stoical death of the
gladiators in the Colosseum was wont to draw admiration, and
sometimes even to extort pity, from the spectators; but their death
was compulsory, and the stoicism of their last moments only a
theatrical grace to fall decently before an applauding multitude. The
Christian, on the other hand, whether as a fearless preacher or as an
unflinching martyr, made a voluntary protest, and chose a self-
imposed torture. If he was not a fool or a madman, he was a hero;
and the heroism he displayed was of such a high order, that being
repeated only for a generation or two, it caused the combined force
of popular prejudice and traditional authority in the heathen world to
blush itself into a not unwilling subjection. So much of lofty courage
and of genuine manhood did subtle Greece and powerful Rome learn
from the moral missionaries of poor and despised Palestine!
Let us now cast a glance on that most characteristic and most
widely bruited of all the Christian virtues, viz., Love; which under the
name of Charity (not Ἔρως, the old satellite of Venus, but ἀγάπη),
St. Paul in a famous chapter eulogizes as at once the crown and the
epitome of all virtues most peculiarly Christian. We read also that
“Love is the fulfilling of the law;” and a watchword so deliberately
chosen and so emphatically sounded must always be pregnant with
significance as to the moral character and efficiency of the religion to
which it belongs. Now the plain significance which this blazon bears
on the face of it is this, that if Love be the blossom of all virtue, the
root of all vice is the opposite of Love, viz., Selfishness. And
whosoever has looked into the moral world with any faculty of
generalizing, will not fail to have observed that every form of vice is
only a diverse manifestation of that untempered, voracious, and
altogether monstrous egotism, which, in order to purchase for itself
a slight advantage or a momentary titillation, would not scruple to
plunge a whole universe into disorder and ruin; while, on the other
hand, the virtuous man lives as much by sympathy with the desires
of others as by the gratification of his own, and is ready at any
moment to dash the bowl of blessedness from his lips, if he must
purchase it by the consignment to misery of a singly human soul.
And if we look at the lower organism of society, we shall find, that as
in the republic of science knowledge prospers exactly in proportion
as the pure love of truth prevails, so in communities of human
beings, the measure of the amount of that brotherly love which man
feels to man, taken in its intensity and in its diffusion, furnishes an
exact test of the amount of moral excellence and consequent
happiness—as distinguished from mere material prosperity—which is
found in any place. The greatest difficulties, indeed, which society
has to encounter, spring fundamentally from a deficiency of brotherly
love,—from every grade of carelessness, indifference, and coldness,
down to niggardliness, shabbiness, and the wretched mania of
hoarding jealously what he who hoards is afraid to use. Poor-laws,
for instance, which are generally looked upon as a necessary evil,
exist only because those social associations to which the
administration of charity naturally belongs, viz., in a Christian
country the Christian churches, are not powerful or zealous enough
adequately to do their duty in relieving human misery; that is to say,
because Love, which is professedly the soul of those associations, is
either not intense enough where it exists, or not sufficiently diffused,
to provide the necessary aid; and thus people are driven to supply
the want of voluntary love in the community by the exaction of
compulsory rates, which may, indeed, save a few individuals from
starvation, but which certainly produce the double evil of weakening
the healthy habit of self-support through all classes of the
community, and of stopping the fountain-heads of that natural flow
of brotherly aid, which is a virtue only so long as it is voluntary. Now
to this selfishness, which may without exaggeration be termed the
endemic taint of all human associations, Christianity has applied the
antidote of Love, in the triple form of love to Christ, love to the
brethren, and love to the human race;—love to Christ as the
incarnate type of unselfish benevolence and noble self-sacrifice; love
to the brethren as fellow-soldiers in the same glorious human
campaign; love to all men, as sheep of one common fold, which the
further they have strayed the more diligently they are to be sought
for. How much more intensely and extensively than in any other
association this Love has operated in the Christian churches, from
the days of Dorcas and her weeping widows down to Florence
Nightingale and her Crimean campaign, need not be told; nine-
tenths of the most active benevolence of the day in this country are
Christian in their origin and in their character; and even those
persons the favourite watchwords of whose social ethics are
borrowed not from Christ but from Epicurus, will be found to have
added a strange grace to the philosophy which they profess by a
light borrowed from the religion which they disown. And if we
inquire what are the causes of this superior prominence given to
active benevolence in the Christian scheme of ethics, we shall find,
as in other instances, that the peculiar character of the ethical fruit
depends on the root of religion by which the plant is nourished, and
the theological soil in which it was planted. For surely it requires very
little thought to perceive that the root of all that surpassing love of
the human brotherhood lies in the well-known opening words of the
most catholic of prayers—“Our Father which art in Heaven;” the
aspect also of sin as a contumacy and a rebellion, and a guilt
drawing down a curse, necessarily led to a more aggressive
philanthropy, with the view of achieving deliverance from that curse;
but, above all, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the
terrible consequences necessarily involved in the idea of an eternal
banishment from the sunshine of the Divine presence, has created
an amount of social benevolence and missionary zeal which under
any less potent stimulus would have been impossible. The miseries
of the more neglected and outcast part of humanity present an
entirely different aspect to the calm Epicurean and to the zealous
Christian. To the Christian the soul of the meanest savage and of the
most degraded criminal is still an immortal soul. As when a
conflagration bursts out in a high turret, where a little child is
sleeping within the near enswathment of the flames, some
adventurous fireman boldly climbs the ladder, and rushing through
the suffocating smoke, snatches the little innocent from the embrace
of destruction; so the Christian apostle flings himself into the eager
host of idolatrous worshippers, and rejoices with exceeding joy when
he saves if it were but one poor soul from the jaws of the destroying
Siva to whom he was sold. But, as men’s actions are the offspring of
their convictions, the Epicurean will find no spur strong enough to
shake him out of his easy-chair at such a spectacle of human
degradation. Let the poor sinner be worshipping Siva on the banks
of the Ganges, or committing slow suicide by what, in the language
of the Celtic islands, is strangely called the water of life,[223.1] your
easy sensuous philosopher needs not vex himself about the matter.
Poor idiot! poor sot! poor devil! with his little feeble flame of smoky
light which he calls life, let him flicker on another moment, or let him
be snuffed out, it matters not; another bubble has burst on the
surface of the waters, and the mighty ocean of cosmic vitality flows
on as full and as free and as fathomless as before!
In the estimation of Christian love one of the most interesting
points is its strongly pronounced contrast with what has been called
Platonic love. As for that which is commonly called love in novels and
in life, though capable of affording a very exquisite bliss in its little
season, it is a matter with which mere puberty and the bloom of
physical life has so much to do, that except in the way of regulation
(which is anything but an easy matter), it does not come under the
category of morals at all; only this general remark may be made
with regard to it, that in all well-conditioned human beings it springs
originally from a certain affinity of souls shining through the body, as
much as from the mere attractions of physical beauty; and in so far
as this is the case, the purely physical instinct is elevated into the
sphere of genuine Platonic love. Now, what is Platonic love? As
described by the great philosopher of Idealism in the Phædrus, its
root lies plainly in the rapturous admiration of excellence, and its
consummation in the metamorphosis of the admirer into the perfect
likeness of that which he admires; whereas Christian love, most
characteristically so called, has its root in an infinite depth of divine
tenderness, and for its fruit broad streams of human pity and grand
deeds of human kindness. Platonic love is more contemplative and
artistic; Christian love more practical and more fruitful; the one is
the luxury of an intellectual imagination, the other the appetite of a
moral enthusiasm.
It would be doing injustice to Christian love, however, to
suppose that it has nothing at all in common with intellectual
admiration, and that its only spring of movement is pity. “Visiting the
fatherless and widows in their affliction,” though in our present
imperfect state the most characteristic, is not absolutely the most
essential, feature in its exercise. If it were so, indeed, the Christian
would never be comfortable except in the midst of misery; as a
nurse can ply her vocation only at the bed of the sick or the
wounded. But in fact his infinite tenderness for the lost sinner is
produced and heightened by his experience of joy from communion
with saints; and the contemplation and imitation of the image of
moral perfection in the person of the great Captain of his salvation
sustains him in his unwearied and often apparently hopeless
endeavours to gather in recruits to serve under that so glorious
captainship. We shall therefore justly say that without a Platonic
love, that is, a fine spiritual passion for the character and person of
Christ, the performance of the thousand and one works of social
charity and mercy for which the Christian is so famous would be
impossible. But we may say further, that the picture of Charity given
in that wonderful chapter of St. Paul is very far from confining the
sphere of Christian human-heartedness to that field of healing and
of comforting in which so many charitable institutions in all Christian
countries are the watch-towers. His picture evidently exhibits the
ideal of a human being, not merely in the habit of lifting the fallen,
healing the sick, and ministering, as the good Samaritan did, to
those who may have fallen into the hand of robbers—these are
extraordinary occurrences, which will excite even the most sluggish
to extraordinary demonstrations of human sympathy,—but the
apostle of the Gentiles will have it that in our daily intercourse with
our fellow-men we learn to live their lives sympathetically as
intimately and as completely as we live our own; that we study on
all occasions to identify ourselves with their position and feelings and
interests, and then only pass a judgment on their conduct. “Charity
suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not
itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not
her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” What a problem is
here, what a lesson of humanity, of catholicity, and of something far
more human than that mere toleration, which the nations of
Christendom have taken now nearly two thousand years to learn,
since the first preaching of the gospel, and are scarcely learning
even now! How much of our daily judgments, spoken and printed,
seems leavened in any degree by the genuine humanity and
manifest justice of this divine ideal? “Speaking the truth in love” is
the acknowledged law of Christian intercourse; speaking lies in
hatred were often a more appropriate text for certain large sections
of British practice. We ought to pass judgment against our brother
on our knees, fearful to offend; we do it rather, not seldom with
pride and insolence and impertinence, mounted on the triumphal car
of our own conceit, riding rough-shod over the real or imagined
faults of our brother. So far does the ideal of Christian love, in the
preaching of the Christian apostle, transcend its reality in the lives of
men who, if not Christians, at least breathe a Christian atmosphere,
and ought to have received some benefit from the inhalation!
Forgiveness of injuries is one of the special fruits of Christian
charity, which has never been denied its due meed of
acknowledgment, though not unaccompanied sometimes with the
sarcastic observation that the pious zeal of Christian men has
generally been more apt to flame into hatred than their love to
blossom into forgiveness. No man has yet been able to say of
Christians generally, as one may often have remarked justly of
Quaker ladies, that they have too much milk in their blood; nor do
British and French and German wars seem to have abated very
much in intensity for the want of a Christian text saying—Thou shalt
love thy friends and hate thine enemies! Perhaps, also, some scholar
may be able to string together from the pages of rare old Plutarch a
longer chain of pretty specimens of lofty forgiveness of enemies than
can readily be picked from modern Christian biographies. In the life
of Pericles, by that mellow old Bœotian, I remember to have read
that on one occasion this great statesman had to endure for a whole
day in the agora a succession of impertinent and irritating attacks
from one of those waspish little creatures who love to infest the
presence of goodness; and he endured it with such untroubled
composure that, without taking the slightest notice of his assailant,
he executed quietly some incidental matters of business, whose
urgency demanded immediate attention. In the evening the orator
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