The Effects of Digital Intensity on Combinations of Sequential and Configural Process Variety

Two forms of variety have been noted in organizational processes: sequential and configural. These describe variations in how a work process is ordered (sequential) or what is involved in enacting each work activity (configural). Each has been mainly studied in isolation. In organizations, these two types of variety are always co-present and scholars will miss important insights if their dependencies and interactions are not examined. This calls for theorizing and empirical inquiries regarding how these two types of variety are related and how digitalization influences them. Our contribution in this paper is to call attention to the need to analyze these forms of variety simultaneously and invite a more thorough treatment of both forms of variety. The results of this exploratory study indicate that digitalization increases configural variety, but decreases sequential variety, that sequential and configural variety are positively related, and that sequential variety increases in concert with process size.