A new academic study suggests that global IT strategies are often adapted at local level - and that understanding why requires paying close attention to culture, not just systems and structures.
Published in the Qualitative Research Journal, the research by Dr Godfried B Adaba of the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at the University of East London introduces a clearer, more structured way of studying complex digital change.
The paper sets out a framework to help researchers analyse how technology, organisations and culture interact in real-world settings. To demonstrate the approach, Dr Adaba applied it to a study of multinational telecoms subsidiaries operating in Ghana.
The impact of habits
Through interviews, document analysis and observation, the research examined how business strategy and IT strategy are aligned across borders. What emerged was that alignment is shaped by everyday cultural habits such as attitudes to hierarchy, communication styles and how comfortable people feel challenging authority.
In the case examined, global IT directives from headquarters were sometimes adapted at lower level to make them workable. The study describes this as "hybrid alignment" - a negotiated blend of global direction and local practice.
"The primary aim of this paper is to strengthen how we study complex digital change," said Dr Adaba. "By applying a structured grounded theory approach, I was able to show that strategic alignment is not simply implemented. It is interpreted and negotiated within cultural contexts. The impact of this research is that helps leaders understand how digital transformation really unfolds."
Lessons for leaders
While the paper is methodological in focus, it draws out practical implications for organisations managing digital transformation across borders.
The research suggests that leaders need to understand that a strategy designed a corporate HQ will be interpreted and adjusted by teams on the ground.
A rigid, one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to work everywhere. Allowing some room for local adaptation, while keeping the overall direction clear, can lead to more workable outcomes.
Making key adjustments
The study further points out that decision-making structures should take cultural differences into account. In organisations where hierarchy is strong and people are less comfortable speaking up, leaders need to think carefully about how decisions are made and how feedback is gathered.
Dr Adaba said, "The research emphasises the importance of understanding how authority and communication actually function inside the organisation. In some settings, people may stay silent rather than question a senior manager. If that dynamic is ignored, problems alignment may drift without anyone realising."
Theorising sociotechnical complexity: a grounded theory framework for qualitative information systems research by Godfried B Adaba appears in the Qualitative Research Journal
