Navigating Institutional Friction in Digital Transformation: A Mechanism‐Based View

ABSTRACT Digital transformation (DT) fundamentally alters organizational structures, practices, and values, frequently generating significant friction as incoming digital artefacts structurally misalign with legacy institutional demands. These demands are rooted in institutional logics—the deeply held belief systems and practices that guide organizational behaviour. Drawing on a 15‐year longitudinal case study of a Swedish municipality, this study investigates how public‐sector entities manage this friction over time. The findings reveal DT as a dynamic, recursive trajectory driven by three sociotechnical mechanisms: Consolidation, Control, and Negotiation. These mechanisms generate non‐linear shifts across institutional states of conflict and alignment. This study makes three contributions. First, it reconceptualizes DT theory by framing transformation as recursive, non‐linear cycles of divergence and convergence that redirect, suppress, or accommodate localized, logic‐based resistance. Second, it advances the logic multiplicity framework by demonstrating how digital artefacts alter sociotechnical coupling, thereby shifting the centrality and compatibility of competing demands. Third, it illuminates the causal architecture of macro‐level institutional change, detailing the observable actions used to navigate logic‐based resistance during DT.