Analysing the impact of digital transformation on corporate travel management

The research field in digital transformation has increased empirical study concentrating on value creation to customers. Rather, few attentions have contributed on digital transformation on internal services. Digital transformation has been defined as a series of actions in digital and strategic changes to rethink use of technologies and capability development to bring efficiency and effective. A standalone digital transformation strategy prioritizes business decisions and requires managers to capture digital opportunities and minimize threats in implementation. Therefore, the corresponding development of managerial capabilities contributes to better understanding of strategic changes on individuals who could affect or be affected. Corporate travel expense as the second controllable expense after salaries gains attentions from enterprise about travel cost control and expenditure management. The use of technology could automize and monitor travel expenditures and analysis. Travel management activities are composed as different steps. This study only focuses on activities in travel reporting step and aims to study the impact of digital transformation on travel reporting process and managerial capabilities. The study was conducted as a single-case study. The empirical data was collected by semi structured interviews, secondary data received from case company, and participant observation. The research design is based on systematic combining approach which allows an explorative understanding on theory and empirical phenomena. The study has identified that the objects of digital transformation in travel reporting activities are maximizing technology capability, improving travel policy compliance and controlling cost. The completion of strategic objectives not only require use of advanced technologies, also managerial capabilities to sense, seize and transform possible opportunities. Drawing from the single case study, the contributions are twofold. Firstly, strategic and operational changes associated with travel policy compliance of travel reporting workflow are identified. Secondly, the changes in business culture, leadership, commitment and triadic relationship enable development of managerial capabilities in digital transformation: the guidance of executives’ strategic belief is essential to shape right managerial cognition; right belief on business and business environment yields assumptions and behaviors in managers, teams and individuals; corresponding managerial skills shapes managerial human capital and develop capacity of social capital; adaptive managerial skills allow managers to perceive and evaluate relationship priorities about paths of firm development to concur strategic changes. The further research recommendation is to explore the impact of digital transformation in other corporate travel management activities apart from the reporting process, and to deeply study the importance of triadic relationship development to enhance managerial social capital to implement digital transformation.