On justification of digitalization projects in hybrid organizations.

The digitalization of hybrid organizations is an emerging topic of interest to a growing number of researchers. Some are already studying the impact of digitalization on social purpose through studies of the implementation of digital initiatives. However, digital projects are rarely studied before they are implemented, and there is still a lack of clarity as to what motivates the players in hybrid organizations in their digitalization project. Through semi-structured interviews, our aim is to analyze how project initiators justify their digitalization projects in terms of the specificities of their context, when pushed by public authorities. Their discourse on digitalization is analyzed using Boltanski and Thévenot's (1991) theory of conventions. The results show that, despite the public authorities' support for the digitalization of the sample interviewed, certain fears persist with regard to digitalization. The interviewees' discourse reveals strategies for managing these tensions. Our contribution lies in the creation of a typology of behaviors related to managing the tensions of introducing digital into the hybrid organization.