Understanding digital agency: Digital transformation as an organizational update of subjective sovereignty

The digital transformation significantly impacts the agency and sovereignty of the modern subject. Traditionally, the defining feature of the modern subject has been its capacity for autonomous decision-making. This classic premise of modernization theory is now being updated through digital transformation. The article integrates subject and organization theory to trace the historical evolution into the digital age. It becomes clear that the agency and decision-making capacity of the modern subject have never existed in isolation; rather, they have always been shaped by and dependent upon organizational structures. Therefore, the question of the subject’s digital sovereignty is closely linked to the social form of organization, which structures social opportunities by differentiating behavioral expectations and imperatives for action. The early integration of technical systems into organizational design laid the foundation for digitization within organizations. The growing algorithm-based design of subjective guidelines for action is now refining organizational structuring processes and marks a turning point for subjective agency and decision-making power. As a result of this new actor model, the subject in the digital society faces new questions regarding the relevance and social scope of its decisions.