Background: Automation deployment is an innovative solution for organisations andbusinesses to improve efficiency and increase value. This study examines the impact ofleadership, learning culture and willingness to automation deployment and, therefore,organisational performance. Two types of leadership styles, participative and autocratic, havebeen selected to analyse their impact on the promotion and deployment of innovative solutionslike automation. The method to measure the success of the organisational performance wasbased on internal improvements of the team's efficiency and productivity using automated tools.An explanatory study was conducted using a questionnaire shared with 242 professionals in theICT industry in Europe to verify our hypotheses. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate whether leadership, learning cultureand employees’ willingness to change affect the automation deployment and how the latterimpacts the organisational performance. Methodology: A quantitative case study based on an online questionnaire using Google formshas been formed to collect data for analysis. Two multivariate regression models have beendeveloped to evaluate the 77 responses collected from the participants with familiarity andexposure to the automation technology. Results & Conclusions: The results align with the existing literature in the fields of innovation,organisational culture, and performance. More specifically, we discovered that the autocraticstyle negatively affects the automation deployment (B=-2.89, p=0.008), while learning culture(B=0.38, p=0.001,) and willingness to change (B=0.8, p=0,) could be considered as enablerssince both found with positive coefficients. Moreover, the automation deployment has beenidentified as a significant variable that affects organisational performance (B=1, p=0).Additionally, the findings from both models are underpinned by the existing literature provingtheir validity. Recommendations for future research: Future work could be focused on including otherleadership styles, such as transformational or entrepreneurial, to examine the impact onautomation deployment and organisational performance. Additionally, the performance couldbe evaluated based on the final service or product of the company, considering customers'feedback or financial terms. Last but not least, expanding the research to other organisationsthat are considering or have already deployed automation would shed more light on the effectto the organisational performance.

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Cette recherche analyse le rapport existant entre la prédisposition au changement dans les services et les résultats concernant la mise en œuvre d'innovations dans des entreprises de développement de logiciels au Brésil. L'objectif principal consiste à expliquer la relation entre la prédisposition au changement dans les services et le développement des innovations dans le cadre des services de logiciels au Brésil. Pour atteindre son but, cette recherche a été développée en trois étapes, la première ayant consisté à relever les dimensions explicatives de la prédisposition au changement dans les services, ce qui a permis de cartographier sept dimensions explicatives à partir desquelles, lors de la deuxième étape de la recherche, une échelle de mesure a été proposée, appliquée et validée. Cette seconde phase, a également permis l'application d'une échelle de mesure de l'innovation dans les services à partir d'une sous sélection de points de la PINTEC 2008 (IBGE, 2010). Lors de la troisième étape de cette étude, le modèle d'analyse proposé a été testé à partir des données collectées lors de la réalisation de régressions linéaires. L'hypothèse de recherche considérait que la prédisposition au changement dans les services exerçait une prédiction linéaire sur l'innovation dans les services de logiciels au Brésil, ce qui la confirmait en tant qu'inputs d'innovation dans les services. / This study investigated the acceptance of changes in the characteristics of a service by the provider, and its effects on the generation of innovations in software services. This problem was operationalized in the form of the construct Willingness to Change in Services - WCS, for which it was developed an enquiry of its explanatory dimensions, with the completion of semi-structured interviews with experts in software services in ten brazilian cities. Seven dimensions were associated to the construct and gave rise to a measurement scale for WCS, which was submitted along with a scale to measure innovation in services in 351 Brazilian companies that develop software services. The scale of WCS underwent semantic validation by experts and factorial, latter performed with the application of an Analysis of Exploratory Structural Equations Modeling of the data obtained with the application of the scales in the sample companies. A Linear Regression test was performed in order to explore the relation between WCS and SI. The results show no significant relation within the Linear Regression tests performed between the constructs. It was understood that the analysis examined the linear relation between the constructs, which was not confirmed, but it did not test the existence of nonlinear or indirect relations. Therefore, it is understood that there might be intermediate phenomena or processes between change and innovation in services yet to be mapped.

Digitization is a global phenomenon that has changed the everyday life, both workwise and privately. Digitization has become a central part in almost everything you do today. New effective methods to provide services have been created with the help of automatization, which has introduced the audit world to a transformation process. The work process has become more digital, which has led to a higher demand in expectations on the agencies.The purpose of this study is to describe and identify possible impacts that digitization might have on the auditing work practice and “the big four” competitiveness. The study will focus on two different perspectives, the agencies and the clients, where we will examine the general view on the digital services that are being offered and what pros or cons these services bring. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, every “big four” accounting firm and a couple of customers will be interviewed. After the interviews were completed, they were analyzed by applying relevant theories. The methodology of the study has a qualitative character with inductive character.The empirical findings of the study indicate that digitization has created a more effective work practice where you have more access to data. Digitization is necessary for the agencies if they want to maintain legitimacy and be able to compete with one another, because every customer has an expectation that the agencies will have developed digitized utilities to support their work process. Furthermore, the findings show that the human interaction has decreased because of digitization, since the work has become more independent with less requirements on communication.Finally, the study shows that all agencies are aware that digitization is the main force on their market and that huge investments are being made to follow the development and to compete for the customers. / Digitalisering är ett globalt fenomen som förändrat det vardagliga livet, både arbetsmässigt och privat. Digitaliseringen har blivit en central del i nästan allt man gör idag. Det har skapats nya effektiva metoder att leverera tjänster på med hjälp av automatisering, vilket har introducerat en omvandlingsprocess för revisionsvärlden. Arbetssättet har blivit mer digitalt och det har lett till att högre krav ställs på byråerna. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och identifiera eventuella effekter som digitaliseringen kan ha på revisionsarbetet och konkurrenskraften hos “the big four”. Studien kommer fokusera på två olika perspektiv, byråernas och klienternas, där vi kommer undersöka den generella uppfattningen av de digitala tjänsterna som erbjuds och vilka fördelar eller nackdelar dessa tjänster erbjuder. För att uppnå studiens syfte, kommer varje revisionsbyrå i “the big four” och ett antal kunder att intervjuas. Efter att intervjuerna genomfördes, har de analyserats med tillämpning av relevanta teorier. Studiens metod har en kvalitativ karaktär med en induktiv ansats. Studiens resultat tyder på att digitaliseringen har skapat ett mer effektivt arbetssätt där man har tillgång till mer data. Digitaliseringen är nödvändig för byråerna om de ska förbli legitima och kunna konkurrera med varandra, eftersom varje kund har en förväntan att de ska ha utvecklade digitala verktyg som ett stöd i arbetsprocesserna. Vidare visar resultatet att mänskliga interaktionen minskat på grund av digitaliseringen, då arbetet blivit mer självständigt med krav på mindre kommunikation. Slutligen visar studien på att samtliga byråer är medvetna om att digitaliseringen är den stora drivande utvecklingen på deras marknad och att det sker stora investeringar för att följa med i utvecklingen och kunna konkurrera om kunderna.

The rapid growth of technology development increases the need for incumbent organizations to digitally transform. Studies show that digitally mature organization have a 26% higher profitability than peers (Westerman et al., 2012), nonetheless, success is rarely obtained as it requires incumbents to radically change their working methods and participate in a very painful transition. To gain knowledge on how to increase the success rate of digital transformations, this thesis examines what critical factors that affect the willingness for change of first line managers. Furthermore, it shows how change management can be applied to improve this willingness. Using a qualitative and exploratory approach through a case study, this research shows that earlier experience of work-related change, perceived usefulness and digital maturity affect the first line managerial willingness to change. Except from applying general theories on change management as well as considering more specific research on technology implementations, this study suggest organizations should focus on leading digital change from transforming individuals based on the three critical factors found to affect managerial change willingness. In doing so, stakeholder management analysis is suggested being a helpful tool as well as moving focus from the technology to a new way of working. / Den snabba teknologiska utvecklingen bidrar till ökat behov av digital transformation hos etablerade organisationer. Studier visar att digitalt mogna organisationer har 26% högre lönsamhet än andra (Westerman et al., 2012), men sällan uppnås framgång då det kräver radikala förändringar av arbetssätt hos etablerade företag, något som kan vara mycket smärtsamt. För att få kunskap om hur man kan öka antalet lyckade digitala transformationer, undersöker denna studie vilka kritiska faktorer som påverkar förändringsviljan hos första linjens chefer. Dessutom, visar den hur förändringsledning kan tillämpas för att förbättra denna vilja. Genom en kvalitativ och explorativ metod, och specifikt en fallstudie, visar denna forskning att tidigare erfarenhet av jobbrelaterad förändring, uppskattad användarbarhet och digital mognad påverkar förändringsviljan hos första linjens chef. Förutom att applicera allmänt kända teorier på temat förändringsledning såväl som att ta hänsyn till mer specifik forskning gällande tidigare implementationer av ny teknik, föreslår denna studie att organisationer vid ledning av digital förändring ska fokusera på att omvandla individer baserat på de tre kritiska faktorerna som funnits påverka chefers förändringsvilja. För att lyckas i det förslås organisationer tillämpa intressentanalys liksom fokusera på att flytta fokus från teknik till ett nya arbetssätt.