Exploring Top Management Support for Digital Transformation: A Case Study of a European Financial Services Organisation

Rationale, Aims and Objectives Digital transformation (DT) offers many opportunities for value creation, customer personalisation, and efficiency, yet over 70–90% of initiatives fail due to cultural resistance, fragmented legacy systems, and poor leadership alignment. Traditional organisations struggle when DT is framed as an IT upgrade rather than a business-wide transformation. This study investigates how top management at a leading European bank supported a successful DT. The objective was to provide empirical insight into top management (TM) actions, an area the literature describes as underexplored and surprisingly neglected. This research aims to clarify how leadership behaviours, strategic alignment and cultural interventions influence DT outcomes. Research Findings This study identifies four interconnected TM actions critical to successful DT: Reimagining the organisation’s strategic direction, Reconfiguring culture and workforce practices, Recalibrating capabilities and systems, and Reinventing customer value propositions. To support a successful DT, TM expanded the scope from technology replacement to include strategy, culture, and business model renewal, supported by structural changes to the TM team and cultural transformation initiatives focused on communication, reducing silos, and fostering collaboration, to create a more digitally agile workforce. TM also pursued IS integration, insourcing digital talent, and customer-facing innovations, including new data-driven services. Policy Implications Policy frameworks should encourage organisations, especially in regulated industries, to adopt holistic digital strategies that integrate DT with cultural and workforce transformation, echoing the study’s finding that technology alone cannot deliver DT benefits. Policies should also emphasise leadership capability, long-term investment and workforce readiness. Regulators and government agencies should support integrated digital strategies rather than isolated technology upgrades. Public programmes should promote digital skills, organisational agility and cross-sector collaboration, ensuring organisations can modernise safely while protecting consumers and maintaining service quality. Industry Recommendations Industry leaders should view DT as a whole-business change rather than just an IT implementation project. TM teams need shared ownership, transparent communication, and a clear digital vision. TM must also ensure that the right people are involved to capture all perspectives during a DT and should engage and empower their workforce in preparation for the future organisations. Organisations should invest in modern digital platforms, develop internal talent, streamline processes, and redesign structures to enable quicker decision-making. Customer-focused innovation, data-driven insights, and partnerships within the digital ecosystem are vital for sustainable digital competitiveness. TM must also remember that digital technology is merely an enabler of change; it will not transform.