Factors affecting the willingness to accept digital transformation by small and medium enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Digital transformation is becoming a strategy at businesses and organizations in the 4th Industrial Revolution. The 2020 report by Cisco & IDC on digital maturity of small and medium-sized businesses in 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region shows that: 31% of businesses are in the early stages of digital transformation, down 8% compared to 2019; 53% are in the observation period - a 3% increase compared to 2019; 13% are in the challenging stage, and 3% of the businesses have entered the mature stage, an increase of 4% and 1% respectively from 2019. Digital transformation is an irreversible trend; if a business do not keep up with it, they will inevitably fail, especially small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.The study analyzes the factors affecting the willingness to accept of Digital Transformation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ho Chi Minh City. For research, the author collects data from a direct survey of 290 SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City. The research results show that there are 8 independent factors affecting the adoption of Digital Transformation by enterprises: (1) Perceived relative advantage, (2) Perceived compatibility, (3) Perceived complexity, (4) Knowledge of digital transformation, (5) Management awareness of digital transformation, (6) External change agents, (7) Pressure from partners and opponents. From there, the author proposes implications to raise awareness of SME business owners equip, update knowledge, change awareness, see the benefits and advantages of businesses accepting to participate in digital transformation, suitable in line with social development, in line with the trend of the 4.0 technology era.