Centre for Digital Business Research

About the centre

The Centre for Digital Business Research conducts interdisciplinary research into the theory, methods and technologies underpinning the digital transformation of modern 21st century enterprises.

Modern organisations increasingly rely on digital technologies to improve their business processes and provide increased value to their customers. Integrating new technologies into the organisation is normally a complex and costly endeavour, which requires a re-design (or transformation) of existing business processes. This effort of digital transformation is aimed at transitioning the organisation into a state in which it can meet customer expectations more effectively and efficiently.

The primary focus of our research is on developing novel artefacts (e.g., architectures, frameworks, methods and tools) that assist organisations in the journey of digitalisation of their processes and services, and thereafter managing in a sustainable manner ongoing change in their business strategies and operations.  We recognise the central role of business architecture (and its evolution) to deliver value by purposefully integrating novel and existing digital technologies into the organisation.

Our mission is to contribute to advancing knowledge in Digital Business and Transformation by conducting research that assists modern organisations in the complex endeavour of redesigning and architecting their business strategies, processes and services due to the impact of novel digital technologies.

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Doctoral researchers:

Arijit Basu - PTVL - WBS
Echan Ehi-Palmer
Ulugbek Islamov
Mesbah Khan
Andreia Rodrigues Paim

Read more about people at the CDBR

Publications

  • Eshraghian, F, Hafezieh, N., Farivar, F., de Cesare, S. (2024) AI in Software Programming: Understanding Emotional Responses to GitHub Copilot. Information Technology & People. (accepted for publication)

  • Ali, N., & Dzandu, M. D. (2023). A paradigm shift for medical health care to focus on a service-value approach to achieve greater patient satisfaction. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 37(2), 133-157.
  • Basu, A., Eshraghian, F., & De Cesare, S. (2023). Discerning popularity of innovations on digital platforms using an exploratory developer motivational perspective framework. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) 2023.
  • Borah, P. S., Dogbe, C. S. K., Dzandu, M. D., & Pomegbe, W. W. K. (2023). Forging organizational resilience through green value co‐creation: The role of green technology, green operations, and green transaction capabilities. Business Strategy and the Environment32(8), 5734-5747.
  • Cuvero, M., Granados, M. L., Pilkington, A., & Evans, R. (2023). Start‐ups' use of knowledge spillovers for product innovation: the influence of entrepreneurial ecosystems and virtual platforms. R&D Management, 53(4), 584-602.
  • Dzandu, M. D., Hatsu, S., & De Cesare, S. (2023). Remote Working and Task Innovativeness–an Integrated Resource Based View and Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence Perspective. Information Systems Frontiers, 1-24.
  • Dzandu, M. D., Theophilus, I., & Issa, D. (2023). Exploring the relationship between personal and work characteristics of project managers and psychological safety in virtual teams. Procedia Computer Science, 219, 2067-2074.
  • Farivar, F., Eshraghian, F., Hafezieh, N., & Cheng, D. (2023) Constant connectivity and boundary management behaviors: the role of human agency, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2023.2271835
  • Gornostaeva, G. (2023). The development of digital commerce in the fashion industry: The typology of emerging designers in London. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 186, 122122.
  • Han, H., Shiwakoti, R. K., Jarvis, R., Mordi, C., & Botchie, D. (2023). Accounting and auditing with blockchain technology and artificial Intelligence: A literature review. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 48, 100598.
  • Langley, P. A. (2023). Beyond Just Talking Strategy: Using Gaming Simulations to Catalyze Airline Managers’ Buy-in to Novel Strategies that Can Shape or Adapt to Profit Cyclicality. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 1-19.
  • Langley, P., & Rieple, A. (2023). How managers' perceptions about dynamic complexity change: sensemaking catalyzed by shock and surprise. Management Decision,
  • Omidvar, O., Eshraghian, F., & Hafezieh, N. (2023). Organizing in digital platforms: Temporality, the grammar of actions, and algorithmic delegation. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2023, No. 1, p. 18557). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
  • Trim, P. R., & Lee, Y. I. (2023). Managing cybersecurity threats and increasing organizational resilience. Big Data and Cognitive Computing, 7(4), 177.
  • Trim, P. R., Lee, Y. I., & Vu, A. (2023). Insights into how Vietnamese retailers utilize social media to facilitate knowledge creation through the process of value co-creation. Future Internet, 15(4), 123.
  • Trim, P. R. J., & Lee, Y. I. (2023). Advances in Cybersecurity: Challenges and Solutions. Applied Sciences.

  • Cha, J. (2022). Explicating the Process of Digital Government Programmes: Bridging Research and Practice. British Academy of Management (BAM2022). Manchester, UK 31 Aug - 02 Sep 2022.
  • Chen, W., Botchie, D., Braganza, A., & Han, H. (2022). A transaction cost perspective on blockchain governance in global value chains. Strategic Change, 31(1), 75-87.
  • Du, G., Meng, S., Zhou, K., & Wu, R. Y. (2022). Value chain design through synergistic optimisation of configuration and operation of value activities: an application case of cold chain logistics. Journal of Engineering Design, 33(8-9), 607-634.
  • Dzandu, M. D., Pathak, B., & de Cesare, S. (2022). Acceptability of the COVID-19 contact-tracing app–does culture matter?. Government Information Quarterly, 39(4), 101750.
  • Dzandu, M. D., Hanu, C., & Amegbe, H. (2022). Gamification of mobile money payment for generating customer value in emerging economies: The social impact theory perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 185, 122049.
  • Grajfoner, D., Rojon, C., & Eshraghian, F. (2022). Academic leaders: In-role perceptions and developmental approaches. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, DOI: 10.1177/17411432221095957
  • Lee, Y. I., & Trim, P. R. (2022). Enhancing marketing provision through increased online safety that imbues consumer confidence: coupling AI and ML with the AIDA Model. Big Data and Cognitive Computing, 6(3), 78.
  • Mäkäräinen-Suni, I., Pilkington, A., Granados, M., & De Cesare, S. (2022, December). Mapping the Digital, Innovative Start-up Venture Creation Process. In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM) (pp. 1053-1057). IEEE.
  • Osakwe, C. N., Dzandu, M. D., Amegbe, H., Warsame, M. H., & Ramayah, T. (2022). A two-country study on the psychological antecedents to cryptocurrency investment decision-making. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 25(4), 302-323.
  • Trim, P. R., & Lee, Y. I. (2022). Combining sociocultural intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to increase organizational cyber security provision through enhanced resilience. Big Data and Cognitive Computing, 6(4), 110.

  • Ashok, M., Al Badi Al Dhaheri, M. S. M., Madan, R., & Dzandu, M. D. (2021). How to counter organisational inertia to enable knowledge management practices adoption in public sector organisations. Journal of Knowledge Management, 25(9), 2245-2273.
  • Cha, J., Dzandu, M.D. and Winch, G. (2021). The End of the Beginning: Achieving Value for Money from Government Digital Transformation Projects. British Academy of Management (BAM2021). Lancaster, UK 31 Aug - 03 Sep 2021.
  • Cuvero, M., Pilkington, A., & Barnes, D. (2021, December). Supply Chain Management and Resilience During Disruption. Evaluation of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Supply of Personal Protective Equipment. In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM) (pp. 233-237). IEEE.
  • Dzandu, M. D., & Pathak, B. (2021). Diy laboratories, their practices, and challenges–a systematic literature review. Technology analysis & strategic management, 33(10), 1242-1254.
  • Jarvis, R., & Han, H. (2021). FinTech innovation: Review and future research directions. International Journal of Banking, Finance and Insurance Technologies, 1(1), 79-102.
  • Langley, P., & Rieple, A. (2021). Incumbents’ capabilities to win in a digitised world: The case of the fashion industry. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 167, 120718.
  • Wessel, L., Baiyere, A., Ologeanu-Taddei, R., Cha, J. and Jensen, T. B. (2021) Unpacking the difference between digital transformation and IS-enabled organizational transformation. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 22(1), pp. 102-129.

  • Christodoulou, I., & Langley, P. A. (2020). A gaming simulation approach to understanding blue ocean strategy development as a transition from traditional competitive strategy. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 28(8), 727-752.
  • Verdonck, M., Gailly, F., & de Cesare, S. (2020). Comprehending 3D and 4D ontology-driven conceptual models: An empirical study. Information Systems, 93, 101568.
  • Winch, G. M. and Cha, J. (2020) Owner challenges on major projects: The case of UK government. International Journal of Project Management 38(3), pp. 177-187.
  • Winch, G. and Cha, J. (2020). The end of the beginning: Understanding benefits realisation in transformation projects in the UK government. British Academy of Management (BAM2020). Manchester, UK 02 - 04 Sep 2020.

  • Cha, J. and Maytorena-Sanchez, E. (2019) Prioritising project management competences across the software project life cycle. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 12(4), pp. 961-978.
  • Cuvero, M., Granados, M., Pilkington, A. and Evans, R.D. (2019) The Effects of Knowledge Spillovers and Accelerator Programmes on the Product Innovation of High-Tech Start-ups: A Multiple Case Study. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.
  • Ennis, C and Barnett, N. (2019) Industry 4.0: Exploring Collaborative Supply Networks from the Perspective of Servitization of A Mature Public Transport System. Spring Servitization Conference 2019. Linkoping, Sweden 13 - 15 May 2019
  • Winch, G. and Cha, J. (2019). What do project owners do? The case of UK government. European Academy of Management (EURAM2019). Lisbon, Portugal 26 Jun - 28 Sep 2019.

  • Cha, J., Newman, M. and Winch, G. M. (2018) Revisiting the project management knowledge framework: Rebalancing the framework to include transformation projects. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 11(4), pp. 1026-1043.
  • Cha, J., Newman, M. and Winch, G. (2018). Public service provider’s dynamic capabilities for IT-enabled government transformation projects. European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS2018). Portsmouth, UK 18 - 24 Jun 2018.
  • Daim, T. and Pilkington, A. (ed.) (2018) Innovation Discovery: Network Analysis of Research and Invention Activity for Technology Management. London World Scientific Publishing.
  • Kapetaniou, C., Rieple, A., Pilkington, A., Frandsen, T. and Pisano, P. (2018) Building the layers of a manufacturing taxonomy: how 3D printing is creating a new landscape of production eco-systems and competitive dynamics. Technological Forecasting & Social Change. 128, pp. 22-35. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2017.10.011
  • Partridge, C., de Cesare, S., Mitchell, A. and Odell, J. (2018) Formalization of the Classification Pattern: Survey of Classification Modeling in Information Systems Engineering. Software & Systems Modeling. 17 (1), pp. 167-203.

Projects

Digital technologies resilience framework for pandemics: Lessons learned from COVID-19

Funded by the British Academy

Researchers: Michael Dzandu (PI), Sergio de Cesare, Richard Evans (Dalhousie University, Canada), Yinshan Tang (University of Reading, UK)

This study aims to catalogue the lessons learned from the digital technology interventions deployed across multiple levels of place, scale, time, and regions in the G7 member countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned would then inform the development of a digital resilience framework for technological interventions in future pandemics.

Digital Twins in Construction: Towards an Ontological Model Development and Integration Framework

Funded by the Transforming Construction Network Plus (ESRC/UKRI)

Researchers: Sergio de Cesare (PI), Michael Dzandu, Rob Garvey and Peter Sharratt

Digital technologies have the potential to transform the landscape of the modern construction industry. While technological advancements, like the Internet of Things, provide the necessary digital infrastructure for enabling the physical collection of data, there currently exists limited methodological support for developing and integrating Digital Twins of built assets so that they can be easily shared across the entire industry.

This project explores the adoption of a foundational ontology-driven framework to support the development and integration of digital twin models in the construction industry across the project lifecycle and across different organisations. Ontology - a branch of philosophy which studies the kinds of things that exist and their relationships - provides the theoretical underpinning to the framework. The framework will be developed by ontologically re-engineering existing digital twin models of built assets and demonstrating improved levels of integration among them. The research will be carried out in collaboration with relevant industrial stakeholders via two workshops aimed at initially understanding the barriers to model integration and subsequently to evaluate the developed framework. This project is highly interdisciplinary and brings together theory and knowledge from philosophy, computing and construction.

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Title
Location

Centre for Digital Business Research
35 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5LS

Contact us

Contact Sergio De Cesare, Group Leader:

+44 (0)207 911 5000 ext 66591

[email protected]