Leadership drivers of digital transformation success in UK organisations.
A three-phase qualitative study of how UK senior executives lead digital transformation, and what their leadership behaviours and strategic decisions contribute to whether it succeeds. Initial interviews, then survey, then follow-up interviews with shortlisted survey participants.
The practitioner reading: digital transformation success is what closes the transformation value gap in the wild. The research examines the leadership behaviour behind whether it does.
Doctor of Business Administration · Edinburgh Business School · In progress
Chuks Anochie
Heriot-Watt University · Edinburgh Business School
If you have owned or co-owned a UK digital transformation between 2016 and 2026, the research is looking for your perspective.
The terms below are documented before the invitation, not after. If they fit your situation and you would be willing to contribute thirty to sixty minutes of your time, the email link follows.
Eligibility
UK-based senior executives who owned or co-owned a digital transformation programme in a UK organisation between 2016 to 2026.
Time commitment
Phase 1: a single 45-to-60-minute interview. Phase 2: a 20-to-30-minute online survey, open to a separate pool. Phase 3: an optional 30-to-45-minute follow-up interview, by opt-in from Phase 2 respondents who indicate interest.
Confidentiality
Approved by the Heriot-Watt research ethics committee. Responses and respondents are anonymised and confidential. You and your organisation will not be named in the thesis or any publication.
Output
The findings inform a leadership assessment framework for UK digital transformation. Contributing executives receive a summary of the framework on publication.
What the research examines
The thesis examines which executive leadership behaviours, decisions, and adaptive practices shape whether a UK digital transformation succeeds, and the conditions that support them.
The academic gap is UK-specific evidence in a field dominated by US settings and survey-based methods. The contribution is an empirically grounded four-lens account of leadership at executive level, drawn from an independent UK sample.
See the practitioner thread behind it →Parameters documented and held to throughout the study.
The study sits inside a three-phase qualitative design. The parameters below are the bounds. The thesis is held to them.
Population
UK-based senior executives who have owned or co-owned digital transformation in UK organisations
Method
Three-phase qualitative design. Phase 1: a 45-to-60-minute initial interview. Phase 2: a 20-to-30-minute online survey, with Phase 1 participants excluded. Phase 3: optional 30-to-45-minute follow-up interviews, by opt-in from Phase 2 respondents.
Sample
Executives who owned or co-owned a UK digital transformation programme between 2016 to 2026.
Outcomes
Leadership behaviours, decisions, and practices that contribute to transformation success, and the conditions that support them.
Comparison
Cross-case analysis of leadership behaviour across varied transformation outcomes.
Supervisor
Professor John Adams, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University
Questions, contribution, and scope in one place.
The three documents that together define the research: the questions it asks, the contribution it makes, and the bounds it holds.
01 · Questions
Primary question
Which executive leadership behaviours, decisions, and adaptive practices shape whether transformation closes or sustains the gap between what a technology investment is supposed to deliver and what it actually delivers?
Leadership behaviours
What leadership behaviours have enabled UK-based senior executives to lead successful digital transformation initiatives in UK organisations?
Strategic decision-making
How do leadership decision-making processes influence the alignment between business strategy and technology integration?
Resistance and culture
What strategies do UK-based senior executives use to overcome resistance and build cultural adaptability during digital transformation in UK organisations?
Readiness conditions
What contextual conditions and leadership practices support a transformation-ready environment in UK organisations?
02 · Contribution
Academic
Brings four leadership lenses into a single empirical account of UK digital transformation evidenced at the executive level, filling theoretical gaps around leadership styles and behaviours specific to the UK setting.
Addresses a UK evidence gap in a field dominated by US settings and survey-based methods.
Practical
Produces an empirically grounded assessment framework for evaluating leadership effectiveness and transformation readiness in UK digital transformation programmes.
Produces guidance applicable to senior executives, boards, and transformation programme leaders in UK organisations.
03 · Scope
In scope
Leadership behaviours in active or recent digital transformation roles
Strategic decision-making processes and their effect on transformation outcomes
Organisational culture, openness to change, and innovation as DX enablers
Resistance management strategies used by senior executives
Leadership of technology governance, risk, and strategic alignment
Out of scope
Longitudinal tracking of the same organisations over time
Sector-specific deep dives; multiple sectors are included but not individually analysed
Socio-technical systems analysis of people, process, and technology integration
Digital skills and training as a primary focus
Technology performance or specific AI/platform capabilities
Ethical and social implications of digital transformation
Three instruments. One thesis.
Click a track to see how it operates inside the broader thesis. One track visible at a time.
The Transformation Generalist
Enterprise AI perspectives
The transformation value gap: the distance between technology investment, transformation effort, and board-level outcomes, deconstructed in practitioner terms.
Visit The Transformation Generalist →The practitioner connection
The research behind the observation.
Twenty years of practice is bounded by one sample: mine. The DBA tests the practitioner observation of the transformation value gap against a wider evidence base, examining which executive leadership behaviours shape whether a UK digital transformation closes it. Heriot-Watt is where the thesis gets the evidential rigour client engagement alone cannot produce.
Heriot-Watt University · Edinburgh Business School
Doctor of Business Administration
Candidacy verifiable on the Heriot-Watt student profile.
View HWU profile →→