Purpose – Digital transformation is a complex and resource-intensive phenomenon that is causing disruptive changes not only among companies and industries, but also at social and institutional level. This has contributed to the mounting need for better assessing digital transformation maturity through reliable models/frameworks. Even though research provides several theoretical models, they suffer from the lack of internal and external validity. Thus, this paper aims at contributing to bridge this gap proposing a tentative model and preliminarily testing it in healthcare domain. Methodology – Drawing on the extant literature a tentative digital transformation maturity model has been proposed and applied to Italian National Healthcare System (NHS) to test it and describe trough a content analysis conducted on some official news, the main dimensions of Italian NHS digital transformation and its maturity stage. Findings – The analysis underlined that Italian NHS is still proceeding in the journey towards digital transformation maturity. It emerged that the analyzed sector needs for further effort to strategically approach the wide transformative potential of digital technologies, paying greater attention not only to those dimensions strictly related to processes’ efficiency, but also to those that implies a deep cultural change, a focus on processes’ participation, and on their long-term effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – This study offers some interesting implications for enhancing digital transformation maturity models’ reliability, and for supporting both health managers and policymakers in strategically approach this phenomenon. However, its exploratory nature and the application to one specific domain somewhat limit it. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in the new dimensions attached to previous digital transformation maturity models and on its practical application to specific and complex sector such as the healthcare.
The journey of Italian National Healthcare System towards digital transformation maturity
Maria Vincenza Ciasullo;Silvia Cosimato;
2025
Abstract
Purpose – Digital transformation is a complex and resource-intensive phenomenon that is causing disruptive changes not only among companies and industries, but also at social and institutional level. This has contributed to the mounting need for better assessing digital transformation maturity through reliable models/frameworks. Even though research provides several theoretical models, they suffer from the lack of internal and external validity. Thus, this paper aims at contributing to bridge this gap proposing a tentative model and preliminarily testing it in healthcare domain. Methodology – Drawing on the extant literature a tentative digital transformation maturity model has been proposed and applied to Italian National Healthcare System (NHS) to test it and describe trough a content analysis conducted on some official news, the main dimensions of Italian NHS digital transformation and its maturity stage. Findings – The analysis underlined that Italian NHS is still proceeding in the journey towards digital transformation maturity. It emerged that the analyzed sector needs for further effort to strategically approach the wide transformative potential of digital technologies, paying greater attention not only to those dimensions strictly related to processes’ efficiency, but also to those that implies a deep cultural change, a focus on processes’ participation, and on their long-term effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – This study offers some interesting implications for enhancing digital transformation maturity models’ reliability, and for supporting both health managers and policymakers in strategically approach this phenomenon. However, its exploratory nature and the application to one specific domain somewhat limit it. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in the new dimensions attached to previous digital transformation maturity models and on its practical application to specific and complex sector such as the healthcare.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
