A Transdisciplinary Approach to Digital Adoption: Exploring the Use of Legitimacy Cards in Industry

Digital technologies offer significant economic, environmental, and societal benefits. However, a key challenge for implementing digital technology is determining which solution best addresses the needs of the organisation, its workforce, society, and sustainability. This paper uses the concept of legitimacy, the acceptance and normalisation of technology, to explore different stakeholder perspectives, helping to inform decisions about technology adoption. A legitimacy lens encourages critical questioning of the norms and values of societies, public bodies, or organisations. We outline a set of discussion cards designed to structure conversations about the legitimacy of implementing potential digital technologies into a specific workplace or industry setting. The cards simplify concepts from legitimacy theory into nine main themes and encourage discussions that explore both positive and negative aspects. This paper presents an early-stage prototype card tool, their piloting and redesign, and validation in an industrial setting with Rolls-Royce. The company used them in three on-line and in-person workshop sessions with 15 industry participants. Results support the usefulness of the legitimacy concept in holistic, guided conversations and the cards as a boundary object tool to help the industry operationalise theory effectively. Conclusions indicate the need to simplify the academic language used, ensure that topics for discussion are distinct, and enhance guidance or process for equity in workshop facilitation/participation.