Kumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2025

This dissertation examines scaling agility in the context of incumbent firms' digital transformations. Existing research has primarily provided prescriptive frameworks, best practices, and normative implementation models. However, it falls short when it comes to the complex, dynamic tensions that arise in practice when agility is scaled in organizations. In particular, the socio-organizational dimensions of scaling initiatives — the continuous balancing of autonomy and alignment, the transformation of role identities, and the influence on digital transformation goals over time — remain largely unaddressed.
Against this background, the dissertation aims to theoretically capture scaling agility as a dynamic, tension-filled, and challenging phenomenon. It develops a process-oriented, sociomaterial perspective that leaves static design templates behind and answers the central, three-part research question: What is scaling agility, how can it be managed, and what implications does it have for the digital transformation of established organizations?
To answer this question, the dissertation comprises nine studies: two structured literature reviews, one taxonomy development, and six case study-based investigations. Taken together, they provide a cumulative understanding of scaling agility as an ongoing, tension-driven process that is closely linked to organizational structures, processes, identities, and value creation mechanisms.