Corporate Digital Transformation: A Review of Literature

Abstract

Background: Corporate digital transformation has emerged as a critical phenomenon reshaping business operations, strategies, and competitive dynamics across industries. As organizations increasingly adopt digital technologies to fundamentally alter their business models, processes, and value creation mechanisms, understanding the conceptual foundations, measurement approaches, and empirical implications of digital transformation becomes essential for both academic research and practical application. This systematic literature review synthesizes the extant research on corporate digital transformation to provide a comprehensive understanding of its conceptualization, measurement methodologies, theoretical underpinnings, and applications across Accounting, Finance, Economics, and Management disciplines. Methods: Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, this review systematically searched EBSCO, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for peer-reviewed journal articles published in English between 2020 and 2025. The search strategy employed comprehensive keywords related to corporate digital transformation, including variations in terminology and domain-specific applications. Studies were screened against predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, with quality assessment conducted using validated appraisal tools appropriate for empirical research designs. Results: The review identified 87 eligible studies that met the inclusion criteria. Findings reveal that corporate digital transformation is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct encompassing technological, organizational, and strategic dimensions. Measurement approaches have evolved from simple technology adoption indicators to sophisticated multi-dimensional indices utilizing natural language processing and machine learning techniques on annual report narratives. The Resource-Based View ( Wernerfelt, 1984 ) and Dynamic Capabilities Theory emerge as the dominant theoretical frameworks. Empirical evidence demonstrates significant positive relationships between digital transformation and firm performance (Lin et al., 2025), accounting information quality ( Yang et al., 2024 a), financial outcomes, and operational efficiency, though contextual factors moderate these relationships. Conclusion: This review contributes to the literature by providing an integrated framework for understanding corporate digital transformation across business disciplines. The findings highlight the need for standardized measurement approaches, more rigorous theoretical development, and expanded research in underexplored contexts. Future research should address the identified limitations and pursue the proposed research agenda to advance knowledge in this rapidly evolving field.