Employees' Resistance to Digital Transformation: Conceptual Dimensions, Scale Development and Antecedent Examination

Abstract

Abstract: “People as the core” is the underlying logic of enterprise digital transformation. However, during the digital transformation process, the feelings and demands of employees, as the grassroots implementers, are frequently overlooked. To solve this new organizational management problems, both academics and industrial practitioners need to make an in-depth research on employees' resistance to digital transformation. In response, this study integrates qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the connotative dimensions, measurement tools, and antecedent mechanisms of employees' resistance to digital transformation. Study 1 employs grounded theory to explore the content structure of employees' resistance to digital transformation, uncovering three dimensions: resistance to the intrusion of work freedom, resistance to the threat of individuals' rights, and resistance to the imbalance of effort and reward. Study 2 develops the scale based on the initial one by combining exploratory(N=205) and confirmatory(N=547) factor analysis methods, establishing a second-order and three-factor measurement model, and employing various methods to ensure its good reliability and validity. Study 3(N=255) draws on the conservation of resources theory to analyze and verify the inhibitory effect of digital transformational leadership on employees' resistance to digital transformation, and the partial mediation effect of digital transformational self-efficacy. The nomological validity of the scale measuring employees' resistance to digital transformation is confirmed based on this result. The research findings not only theoretically define the conceptual dimensions of employees' resistance to digital transformation but also provide concrete and operational scale tools for subsequent empirical research, and further offer practical inspirations for enterprises to overcome internal obstacles in digital transformation.

Key words: employees' resistance to digital transformation, scale development, grounded theory, digital transformational leadership, digital transformational self-efficacy

Zhang Xixi, Hao Xinglin. Employees' Resistance to Digital Transformation: Conceptual Dimensions, Scale Development and Antecedent Examination[J]. Management Review, 2026, 38(1): 153-166.

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