Digital transformation has become a central construct in business and management studies, but its conceptual boundaries remain unstable. The term is used to describe technological adoption, strategic renewal, organizational redesign, business model innovation, and performance transformation, often without clear differentiation among these levels of analysis. This review addresses the problem that digital transformation research has expanded faster than its theoretical integration. In particular, the relationships among strategic alignment, organizational capability, and performance outcomes remain inconsistently theorised and unevenly measured. The objective of the article is to critically review the digital transformation literature through three interrelated lenses: strategic alignment, organizational capability, and performance outcomes. The article treats digital transformation not as a purely technological phenomenon but as a strategic and organizational process whose value depends on fit, readiness, and execution. The review finds that the literature suffers from conceptual ambiguity, weak integration between alignment and capability perspectives, and considerable heterogeneity in performance measurement. It concludes that future research requires stronger conceptual integration, more rigorous longitudinal designs, and more critical attention to the conditions under which digital transformation creates, fails to create, or destroys organizational value.
Institute for Management, Business, and Accounting Studies