Change management as an enabler for digital transformation in an out-of-home media business

Abstract

The launch of the internet has had fundamental changes on the media and advertising industry. Traditional media organisations have had to recreate and redesign themselves into the digital ecosystem to ensure relevance and value creation in the media and advertising digital world. The oldest form of traditional media, Out-of-Home, has had to reestablish itself through digital transformation to ensure its survival, by positioning itself as a competitive contender in the digital ecosystem. This study leveraged the theories of strategic leadership; digital transformation and change management to understand how Out-of-Home media organisations in South Africa are responding to the threatening changes that are happening in the environment with regards to the digital ecosystem. Through the extant literature review it was established that there has been limited research on the Out-of-Home industry, most specifically with regards to digital transformation within an organisation’s organisational and structural processes for the enablement of digital transformation. Thus, this study has been conducted to understand and highlight what change management capabilities have been enabled and utilised in an Out-ofHome organisation for the digital transformation it has needed to ensure survival in the future. The study adopted a qualitative research design as it was exploratory. Interviews were conducted with participants across mature traditional Out-of-Home organisations and also newly established entrepreneurial Out-of-Home organisations in South Africa who have a digital strategy in place. The results of the study revealed that the Out-of-Home organisations that were researched do not have a clearly defined digital transformation strategy that guides their initiatives. However, the organisations have utilised key change management capabilities in their organisations that drive and support digital transformation in the organisation.