Influence of Digital Transformation Capability on Operational Performance

Abstract

With the changes in market environments and the development of digital technology, enterprises urgently need to develop the capability to adapt to profound changes in strategy and business processes. Some previous research regarded a digital marketing capability as a digital transformation capability, but other research explained the importance of digital competence to enterprises, from the perspective of resource allocation. However, they could not explain the phenomenon of enterprises on the usage of advanced digital technology to build the capability to refresh or replace the business model and the value creation process. This study constructed the dimensions of a digital transformation capability that contains three hub-factors (sensing, organizing, and restructuring) under the dynamic capability theory. This study collected 162 sets of enterprise data through a survey, and investigated the relationships of an enterprise’s strategy orientation, digital transformation capability, and operational performance by using SPSS and SmartPLS 3. The results show that strategic orientation has a positive impact on a digital transformation capability, and that digital transformation capability has a positive impact on operational performance. In addition, the digital transformation capability plays a mediating role between strategic orientation and operational performance. Doubtlessly, enterprises need to focus on building their own digital transformation capabilities to create new enterprise value. A digital transformation capability will encourage enterprises to integrate their business processes and routines through digital technology to achieve a competitive advantage.