Analyzing the barriers of digital transformation in the project-based organizations of Iran's oil and gas industries

Project-Based organizations of Iran's oil and gas industries, as developers of mega projects in oil and gas sector, play a vital role in the economic cycle .In line with the process of digital transformation in other businesses,, digital transformation is also necessary in these organizations and in this direction, they will face many challenges. Therefore, analyzing the barriers to digital transformation and providing practical recommendations are among the goals of this research. First, barriers to digital transformation were extracted from the research literature and analysis of data collected from interviews with experts in this industry, and then the list of barriers to digital transformation was finalized using the fuzzy Delphi technique. In the following, the model of barriers to digital transformation was designed and explained using the interpretative structural modeling method.In this research, 52 types of barriers to digital transformation in project-based organizations of Iran's oil and gas industries were identified and categorized into 10 main factors. The study of interrelationships between factors shows that environmental factors, unclear vision and inconsistent goals and factors related to the business of a project are among the most influential factors on other barriers, and cyber security and privacy challenges are most dependent on other factors. The findings of the research, by providing information on the barriers to digital transformation and the sequence and mutual relationships between them, provide the necessary insight for key decision makers in order to determine priorities and allocate resources effectively to overcome the barriers to digital transformation.