IT Managers' Perception and Response to Digital Disruption: An Exploratory Study

Digital disruption introduces technology-enabled changes at a pace and scale that fundamentally shifts established ways of life and work. This paper addresses the ever changing world of digital disruption but more importantly how it affects the IT people that design and manage the technological changes that lead to digital disruption. The paper draws on i) situational awareness theory to identify IT managers’ perceptions of digital disruption, and ii) disruptive innovation theory to identify IT managers’ responses to digital disruption. A case study of senior IT managers in an Australian university identifies that IT managers perceive digital disruption from the technological, learning and sense-making perspectives. IT managers’ first-order responses to digital disruption were shown to address resource, process and value-based issues while second-order responses focused on the need to build dynamic capabilities in order to be prepared for future digital disruption.