The role of managerial communication in the adoption of IT automation

Abstract

This master's thesis addresses a common problem of the adoption of IT automation; the nonoptimal use of the technology due to ineffective managerial communication. It searches for a solution by using the Design Science Research methodology to create a design artifact in the form of a managerial communication framework. This framework provides values to all stakeholders in the IT automation adoption process; the managerial level, the employees, and the technology provider. It improves managerial communication during the adoption process and identifies actionable guidelines for managers.

Narrowing down the scope of the thesis to the adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) within the recruitment industry allows the research to be manageable within the constraints of a master's thesis. A literature review is used to investigate the knowledge base of the topic of the thesis. Additionally, semi-structured interviews with managers and employees are used as a means of collecting data from the environment. Combining these inputs, this research designs a model that explains the role of managerial communication in the effective adoption of IT automation. The model consists of four main components: managerial communication, motivation & vision, impact awareness, and the effective adoption of IT automation. It explains the constructs that were found relevant in this process and how they relate to each other. Several root constructs are used as a basis to create actionable guidelines to facilitate an effective adoption process. Together with the explanatory model, these guidelines form the managerial communication framework. The main goal of the framework is to bridge the gap between the manager's and the employee's views on the nature of the change. This study finds that managers often view the change as a process optimization, whereas employees view it as an organizational change. The managerial communication framework allows to identify these differences and act upon them.

This study not only designs the communication framework, but also evaluates its defined objectives with several experts. The results of these evaluation interviews demonstrate the validity and usability of the research conducted and the design artifact. Future research can extend the framework to other domains & technologies and tailor it to specific problem cases. Furthermore, the framework can be researched and evaluated in practice by conducting a case study.