The Dawn of Digital Transformation : Tracing Needs and Networks in Small-Medium Organizations

This thesis investigates how digital needs are articulated, negotiated, and acted upon within the Baltic University Programme (BUP), a small, resource-constrained, and transnational academic network in the early stages of digital transformation. Rather than treating digitalization as a top-down or purely technical process, the study adopts Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to analyze the relational dynamics through which digital priorities emerge. Drawing on survey responses and semi-structured interviews with BUP stakeholders—including staff, academics, students, and administrators—the study explores the roles of both human and non-human actors in shaping digital change. The findings reveal that digital needs within the BUP are not predefined, but are constructed situationally through daily practices and operational constraints. Central actors such as the Coordinating Secretariat, National Centres, and International Relations Officers are identified as initiators of the transformation process, as they problematize inefficiencies and drive change through their position in the actor-network. Meanwhile, non-human elements such as GDPR and institutional infrastructures exert significant influence, not merely as constraints but as active participants in shaping the digital transformation trajectory. Through this case study, the thesis contributes to the Digital Humanities by demonstrating how digital transformation must be understood as a socio-technical negotiation involving competing priorities, distributed agency, and contingent conditions. It offers a critical, actor-sensitive perspective on how digital strategies can be more effectively designed and implemented in complex, multi-level organizational environments.