Date of Award

Spring 6-12-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in Business

Organizational Unit

Daniels College of Business

First Advisor

Daniel Baack

Second Advisor

Conrad Ciccotello

Third Advisor

Jack Strauss

Fourth Advisor

David Coppini

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

AI-driven digital transformation, CXO digital experience, Dynamic capabilities, Mixed method research, Organizational capabilities, Telecommunications ecosystem

Abstract

Digital transformation continues to redefine organizational performance and competitive advantage across the telecommunications ecosystem. In this new era, driven by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and intelligent automation, firms must continuously reconfigure their resources, leadership structures, and capabilities to remain adaptive. This dissertation examines how Chief X Officer (CXO) digital experience influences financial performance and how internal organizational capabilities shape the transformation process within the context of an AI-driven digital economy.

Grounded in the transforming dimension of Dynamic Capabilities Theory, this study employs a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design that integrates quantitative and qualitative analyses to capture both measurable and experiential dimensions of transformation. The quantitative component uses longitudinal panel data spanning 1994–2024 from communication service providers, hyperscalers, over-the-top platforms, and telecom vendors. Multiple Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models examine whether broad cross-functional CXO digital experience and narrow technical CXO digital experience are associated with three firm-level outcomes: research and development intensity, intangible asset intensity, and return on assets.

The qualitative component employs a phenomenological approach to explore how executives experience and implement organizational transformation. Semi-structured interviews with senior leaders across global telecom and digital infrastructure firms were coded and analyzed using NVivo to identify themes across four organizational capability domains: organizational design, customer experience, human capital, and sustainability. These capabilities represent the organizational mechanisms through which digital leadership translates strategic intent into sustained transformation.

Together, the quantitative and qualitative results, reinforced through additional regression specifications and lag analyses, indicate that broad CXO digital experience is associated with higher levels of innovation investment and intangible asset development, while technical digital experience is linked to immediate innovation outcomes but does not independently drive long-term transformation outcomes. Firms demonstrating high leadership breadth and strong internal capability integration achieve greater adaptability, strategic alignment, and performance resilience in the AI era. Transformation, therefore, emerges as both a measurable organizational outcome and a lived process of aligning technology, talent, and purpose.

Findings reveal that sustained transformation depends not merely on adopting emerging technologies but on aligning leadership experience with internal organizational capabilities to support continuous adaptation, capability development, and long-term performance resilience in the AI-driven digital economy.

Copyright Date

6-2026

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Cecilia Maria Ortega Lagos

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

369 pgs

File Size

2.8 MB

Download

Available for download on Friday, July 09, 2027



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