Maneuvering between skepticism and optimism about hyped technologies: Building trust in digital twins

IT vendors’ promises are likely to meet sound skepticism from prospective clients. If a particular technology is in vogue and seen as a “hype,” clients are under pressure to buy the technology while, at the same time, skepticism about its claimed benefits might be reinforced. Finding a balance between optimism and skepticism is essential. In this qualitative case study, we examine how an oil and gas supplier company in Norway deals with different pressures when adopting and subsequently implementing digital twin (DT) technologies. DTs offer the promise of creating a digital representation of the physical assets that can keep production facilities operating efficiently and optimally and, as such, have been heralded as enabling the next frontier of productivity improvements. Our results reveal a set of different pressures promoting the decision to adopt the hyped technology. Yet, when descended to the local context, the hype status of DTs evokes multilevel perception segmentation that hype interpreters maneuver by building trust. Based on this analysis, we propose a framework of trust-building mechanisms that contribute to a more nuanced understanding of adoption of hyped technologies and enable practitioners to deal with hype-induced perception obstacles.