Conflict or collaboration? Top management team faultline, corporate governance and enterprise digital transformation

Purpose Addressing the gap in research on the drivers of enterprise digital transformation (EDT), which often overlooks the role of the top management team (TMT), the study leverages team faultline theory to examine the effects of relationship-related and task-related faultlines within TMTs on EDT. It also explores the moderating roles of corporate governance, specifically internal governance quality and external media attention, in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using an empirical dataset of 21,163 observations from 3,423 listed firms in China between 2008 and 2019. Findings The findings reveal that TMT relationship-related faultlines negatively influence EDT, while task-related faultlines positively affect EDT. Moreover, internal governance quality positively moderates the impact of task-related faultlines on EDT, while external media attention positively moderates the impact of relationship-related faultlines on EDT. Originality/value The study expands the theoretical framework on TMT faultlines offering deeper insights into how these faultlines shape EDT under varying governance environments.