Digital business convergence and emerging contested fields: A conceptual framework

Abstract

Due to innovations in digital technologies, organizations that used to practice their business in discrete industries now confront radically transformed environments with new competitors from other industries. To understand this phenomenon of digital business convergence, I adopt the theory of strategic action fields from the literature on social movements and organizations. I use elements of this theory to analyze the actions of organizations in contested fields instead of taking a vertical, horizontal, or single-industry perspective. Specifically, I look at how organizations use different types of mobilizabilities (political, social, and technological) to influence the emergence and evolution of contested fields. This paper raises research questions about digital business convergence, suggests ways to investigate those questions, and provides a conceptual framework to study organizations’ strategies and behaviors from a strategic action field perspective.