In response to the need for researchers in the information systems, digital, and organizational space to “lead the charge in theorizing about digital x” (Baiyere et al., 2023: 481), guidelines for distinguishing digitization (e.g. producing bitstrings) and digitalization (e.g., producing organization around bitstrings), have been advanced to foster continuing development of theory about digital x. In this paper we continue this effort by addressing the research question: What can additional systematic analysis of digitization and digitalization contribute to further theorizing about digital x? To do so, we engage in a thought experiment. A thought experiment approach enables us to vary parameters systematically through experimental manipulations relevant to the concepts of digitization and digitalization. Using this approach we are then enabled to propose a typology that provides a novel perspective by imputing the likely phenomena that can comprise digital x, to then further theorize about it, and consequently to offer directions for further research. With this approach, we (1) further theorize an underlying order in the digital x phenomena presently labeled ‘digital’ in the literature (with sometimes counterintuitive results), (2) suggest the potential for theorizing about digital x in ways that bridge gaps in the literature to answer open questions, and (3) enable further theorizing about additional possibilities for affordances from digital x phenomena.
