Corporate governance for digital transformation: The role of ownership and the board of directors

Drawing on board-member surveys and stage-specific text analyses of annual reports from 150 Stockholm-listed firms, this study distinguishes three stages of digital transformation (DT)—digitization, digitalization, and digital maturity—to examine how board roles and ownership structures shape firms' DT ambitions. Cross-sectional and two-year lag regressions show that boards emphasizing strategic resource provision consistently promote broader DT, whereas monitoring-oriented boards dampen it, with these effects strengthening over time. Ownership dispersion further amplifies DT, while dominant or highly concentrated blocks dampen it. Stage-specific analyses reveal that governance matters most during digitalization: strategic boards and dispersed ownership accelerate progress, while monitoring boards and concentrated ownership slow it down. In contrast, early-stage digitization appears largely insensitive to governance, while late-stage digital maturity depends more on board size and firm capabilities. This study advances corporate governance and technology strategy research by clarifying when and how governance mechanisms enable or constrain DT and by introducing a replicable, stage-specific DT metric for future studies. • Stage-specific text analysis tracking digitization, digitalization, and maturity. • Survey of 150 Swedish boards linked to 2019–2020 DT disclosures. • Strategic boards speed up DT; monitoring-focused boards slow it. • Dispersed ownership supports DT; dominant or concentrated blocks constrain it. • Governance effects strongest in digitalization; other stages less board-sensitive.