Reframing Accountability through Digital Transformation in Non-Governmental Organizations

This study examines how digital transformation influences accountability in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Western Balkans, focusing on the key dimensions of accountability: transparency, legitimacy, and effectiveness. Digital transformation is conceptualized in three stages: digitisation, digitalisation, and digital transformation, each representing a distinct level of technological integration and organizational change. To evaluate the effects of digitisation, digitalisation, and digital transformation on transparency, legitimacy, and effectiveness, we collected primary data from a representative sample of NGOs and applied a range of statistical techniques, including Pearson’s correlation, linear regression, ANOVA, and cluster analysis. The findings indicate that digitalisation and digital transformation significantly enhance accountability mechanisms, whereas more basic forms of digitisation tend to have a limited or inconsistent effect. The significance of intentional and well-managed digital transformation is highlighted as a pathway for NGOs to build trust, demonstrate responsible stewardship, and strengthen their contribution to social and economic development in transitional contexts such as the Western Balkans. This study contributes to the literature on organizational accountability by providing insights into how different levels of digital transformation, digitisation, digitalisation, and digital transformation, affect transparency, legitimacy, and effectiveness in NGOs in the Western Balkans, thereby enhancing understanding of how digital initiatives can reinforce organizational capacity and performance.