Resumen: 

This doctoral thesis responds to a research concern of the candidate, closely linked to a professional trajectory of more than two decades in projects of digital transformation, organizational change, and competency development in complex business environments. The primary motivation arises from the need to provide scientific and academic rigor to knowledge acquired through professional practice in digital transformation and development processes. Within this context, it has been consistently observed that the human dimension and organizational culture are decisive factors in translating strategic vision into tangible and sustainable results.

Digitalization has triggered an unprecedented pace of change in both companies and society. Emerging technologies are reshaping productive models, labor relations, and social structures. More recently, the emergence of artificial intelligence has intensified this phenomenon: organizations are now facing processes of exponential technological disruption, with increasingly shorter innovation cycles and impacts that extend beyond the economic sphere to affect cultural, ethical, and human dimensions.

In this context, Digital Transformation (DT) has become a structural necessity for organizations. However, numerous studies concur that the majority of DT initiatives fail when they are addressed exclusively from a technological perspective. Research consistently shows that technology alone does not produce the desired sustainable transformations; rather, the true drivers of change are people their competencies, organizational culture, and a committed strategic leadership aligned with the transformation process.
Along these lines, toward the end of the previous decade the concept of Sustainable Digital Transformation (SDT) emerged, understood as a comprehensive process that combines the adoption of digital technologies with the alignment of organizational capabilities, culture, and environmental impact in order to ensure long-term positive outcomes. SDT therefore incorporates ethical, environmental, and human dimensions, placing people and sustainability at the center of the transformational process. This represents a paradigm shift: moving from “implementing technology” to transforming the way organizations learn, interact, and create value.

Within this framework, the research conducted in this doctoral thesis identifies the need for methodological frameworks capable of addressing Sustainable Digital Transformation from a structured, integrative, and people-centered perspective. Both the academic literature and professional practice show that digital transformation processes are typically articulated through projects, positioning project management as a key mechanism for translating strategy into action. In this regard, the competency-based model of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) provides a robust approach for understanding transformation with a results-oriented focus, aligned with organizational context, governance, and competencies. Its structure—based on the dimensions of Perspective, People, and Practice—enables the integration of leadership, strategy, culture, and execution, which are essential elements for managing the inherent complexity of DT processes.

Nevertheless, as documented in the scientific literature, effective project management alone does not guarantee the actual adoption of change. Digital transformation frequently fails not at the technical design stage, but in the organization’s ability to mobilize people and consolidate new behaviors. At this point, people-centered change management models become critically important. The Prosci–ADKAR model provides a conceptual and operational framework for understanding how change occurs at both individual and collective levels, identifying the conditions required for people to develop awareness, commitment, capabilities, and reinforcement of new ways of working. This approach helps
explain why technology only generates impact when it is embraced, understood, and consistently used by those who integrate it into their daily practice.
The convergence of these two approaches—project management and change management— constitutes one of the core conceptual pillars of this research. IPMA contributes the structure, governance, and strategic orientation necessary to sustain transformation over time, while Prosci– ADKAR enables the understanding and activation of the human dynamics that make effective adoption possible. However, the analysis conducted in this thesis shows that, while complementary, these models require an integrative framework capable of articulating them coherently within complex organizational contexts and under explicit sustainability criteria. It is at this point that the Working With People (WWP) approach assumes a central role in the research.
The WWP metamodel, developed within the field of project-based governance and social learning, offers a conceptual structure capable of integrating, in a balanced manner, the political-contextual, ethical-social, and technical-business dimensions. Its humanistic and participatory orientation places people at the core of the transformation process, while incorporating sustainability as a transversal principle rather than a secondary outcome. The adaptation of the WWP model to the corporate context gives rise to the WWP–SDT metamodel, which constitutes the reference framework of this thesis and its guiding thread.

The WWP–SDT model is thus proposed as a methodological response to the complexity of Sustainable Digital Transformation, enabling the integration of leadership, culture, capabilities, and technology within a structured, participatory, and results-oriented process. Its relevance in this research lies in its ability to connect academic rigor with practical experience, offering a framework that not only explains digital transformation but also guides its implementation in real organizations. The detailed development of the model—its dimensions, phases, and mechanisms of application—as well as its empirical validation, are addressed specifically in the objectives section and in subsequent chapters of the thesis.
The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to propose and validate a methodological metamodel for the implementation of Sustainable Digital Transformation processes in large organizations, coherently integrating the technological dimension with the human, organizational, and sustainability dimensions.
To this end, the research analyzes the impact of digitalization and technological acceleration on business models and organizational culture, examines the personal dimension as a key element in the adoption and consolidation of change, and explores the synergies between competency-based project management (IPMA) and people-centered change management (Prosci–ADKAR). Based on this analysis, the WWP–SDT metamodel is designed, subsequently implemented, and empirically validated in five large Spanish companies, assessing its impact on technological adoption, cultural change, and the effective integration of sustainability into organizational practice.

The results of the research confirm that Sustainable Digital Transformation only generates real and lasting impacts when it is addressed through a balanced integration of the political-contextual, ethical-social, and technical-business dimensions of the Working With People model. Empirical evidence shows that strategic leadership and clear governance, articulated from top management, constitute the essential starting point for providing meaning, coherence, and legitimacy to transformation processes. Alignment among the Technology, Human Resources, and Communication areas made it possible to translate strategic vision into coordinated actions, facilitate organizational learning, and
continuously adjust interventions.
Furthermore, the research highlights that the human factor acts as the primary catalyst of digital transformation. Initially low levels of technological adoption demonstrate that the mere implementation of tools does not produce change. Only when communication, training, capability development, and the promotion of sustainable digital behaviors are systematically activated does significant adoption and consolidated cultural change occur. This finding is particularly relevant in a context of increasing technological disruption, where adaptability, continuous learning, and ethical action by individuals become essential conditions for the sustainability of change.

The technical-business dimension demonstrated its capacity to amplify the impact of transformation only when the organization had reached a sufficient level of cultural and organizational maturity. In this scenario, technology ceased to be an end in itself and became an effective lever for operational improvement, efficiency, and sustainability. These results validate the sequential and synergistic logic of the WWP–SDT model and reinforce the idea that technical maturity is not defined by technological availability, but by its functional integration into processes, people, and strategic objectives. Transversally, sustainability emerged as an integrating vector of the digital transformation process.

The incorporation of environmental, social, and ethical objectives into strategy, indicators, and organizational culture made it possible to link new digital behaviors with tangible benefits and a shared purpose, aligned with regulatory and societal demands. Finally, the research confirms that the integration of competency-based project management frameworks (IPMA) and people-centered change management (Prosci–ADKAR) provides a solid methodological structure for activating, measuring, and consolidating Sustainable Digital Transformation in large organizations.

In summary, this thesis contributes an innovative and empirically validated methodological framework for implementing Sustainable Digital Transformation in large organizations, grounded in the WWP–SDT model. Its main contribution lies in transforming knowledge acquired through professional practice into a structured, measurable, and applicable model capable of guiding real interventions with sustainable results.