Change Must Come from within: Study of Digital Transformation in Construction Client Organizations

PurposeThis study conceptualizes the digital transformation (DT) strategy in a supply chain context, identifies its drivers from intra- and inter-organizational perspectives and examines the effect of the DT strategy on the strategic agility and financial performance of Chinese manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors constructed a theoretical model by synthesizing the diffusion of innovation and organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and provided a set of hypotheses. The authors empirically tested the arguments using partial least squares structural equation modeling using data from a sample of 200 manufacturing firms in China.FindingsThe findings indicate that while supply chain connectivity positively affects DT adoption and DT routinization, data analytics capability and organizational learning positively influence DT adoption but not DT routinization. The mediation analysis also shows that DT strategy has significant direct effects on financial performance and a stronger indirect influence on financial performance via improved strategic agility.Research limitations/implicationsThis study responds to repeated calls for a new understanding of supply chain DT strategy. In addition, the study offers important contributions to the literature by identifying the potential discord between the existing DT strategy and the supply chain context and proposes a new framework that provides essential theoretical underpinnings.Originality/valueThis study enriches the literature by conceptualizing and validating the dimensions, driving factors and performance implications of DT strategy in strategic supply chain management.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation (DT) across various industries, including higher education (HE). In response to the dynamic demands of contemporary society, higher education institutions (HEIs) must swiftly adapt and transform. However, existing research has revealed a prevalent lack of strategic vision regarding DT in HE, often limited to the mere integration of technology. This study employs a systematic literature review (SLR) as a methodological framework to identify and categorize DT challenges and strategies within HE accelerated after the pandemic event. Findings from this SLR highlight four distinct categories of challenges and strategies in DT: Strategic-Administrative, Teaching-Learning, Technical-Technological, and Social-Cultural. Notably, the literature tends to focus more on identifying challenges, revealing an unbalanced emphasis compared to analyzing how HEIs are actively progressing in their DT efforts. Furthermore, there is a significant absence of impact analysis regarding these DT strategies within HE. To address these gaps, recommendations for future research are proposed, including (i) Exploration of strategic processes in HE toward DT, (ii) Empirical analysis of the Digital Maturity of HEIs, and (iii) Assessment of the impact of the strategic responses of HE toward DT. In conclusion, this study underscores the urgency for a more strategic approach to DT in HE, emphasizing the need to shift the focus from technology integration toward holistic, effective, and outcome-driven strategies. These recommendations aim to guide future research toward a more interdisciplinary and comprehensive understanding of DT within the realm of HE. Received: 15 April 2024 | Revised: 6 June 2024 | Accepted: 2 September 2024 Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in SLR Data selection and extraction.xlsx. Author Contribution Statement María Luisa Nieto-Taborda: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. Rocci Luppicini: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to examine the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies that enable digital transformation, as well as the moderating role of research and development (R&D), on the financial performance of agricultural companies. Methodology / approach. The main research method was regression analysis, which was carried out using the ordinary least squares method using GRETL software package. To study the quality of data on financial performance measures, independent and control variables, descriptive statistics, and correlation matrix methods were used. To form quantitative characteristics of the digital transformation process of agricultural enterprises and individual Industry 4.0 technologies that support it, a text analysis method was applied, the practical use of which was carried out in the R software environment. To conduct the text analysis, two scripts were created using the functionality of “pdftools”, “stringr”, and “tidyverse” libraries in the R environment. This made it possible to identify keywords and translate the frequency of their use in the studied reports into quantitative indicators. The information basis for the study was the means of disclosing additional information by 200 agricultural companies from different countries of the world for 2022–2023. Results. The heterogeneity of the impact of indicators characterising digital transformation and the use of individual digital technologies on agricultural companies’ financial performance measures was established, and the absence of a moderating effect of R&D on the impact of digital transformation on such indicators was confirmed. The study results allow us to establish the general role of digital transformation and individual Industry 4.0 technologies in achieving various types of financial performance measures. Originality / scientific novelty. The study’s novelty lies in overcoming the research gap in exploring the influence of digital transformation structural elements on the financial performance of agricultural companies, as well as substantiating the role of R&D in this process. To solve this problem, text analysis of additional information disclosure tools of agricultural enterprises was applied based on the use of R software environment libraries and scripts developed by the authors to identify and count the frequency of use of keywords characterising digital transformation. Practical value / implications. The study results enable agricultural management to adjust their overall digital transformation strategy and make more informed decisions about the use of individual digital technologies to improve financial performance and create greater value for customers.

PurposeIn the context of the digital economy, information technology (IT) investment has become a necessary way for enterprises to transform digitally. However, why and how IT investment can enhance digital transformation is lacking in the literature. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), this study explored the impact mechanism of IT infrastructure on the digital transformation of enterprises from the perspective of the digital transformation strategy. Further, this study examined the moderating role of top management on the relationships between IT infrastructure and digital transformation strategy and between digital transformation strategy and enterprise's digital transformation.Design/methodology/approachThrough a questionnaire survey of Chinese enterprises, 180 sample data were collected, and the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the hypothesis.FindingsDigital transformation strategy fully mediates the relationship between IT infrastructure and enterprise digital transformation. Furthermore, top management has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between IT infrastructure and digital transformation strategy, as well as the relationship between digital transformation strategy and digital transformation.Originality/valueThis study explores the moderating role of top management in the relationship between IT and enterprise performance, as well as the mediating role of digital transformation strategy in the relationship between IT infrastructure investment and digital transformation performance. As a result, the study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on IT business value, digital transformation and strategic management. The authors' findings can help update managers' perceptions of IT value and provide theoretical guidance on deriving digital transformation performance from IT infrastructure investments.

The way businesses view consumers has been transformed by technology. The terms digital transformation and digitization are becoming increasingly prevalent in the business world. They discovered that those who did not undergo digital transformation would not survive digital disruption. The value of technology is derived from the results of business transformation that is possible through the application of technology, not from the implementation of technology itself. Therefore, for optimal digital transformation results, a framework is required as a guide. The purpose of this study is to determine the requirements for a digital business transformation framework. From the search results, 224 research papers on digital business transformation were located, and 31 papers containing digital transformation frameworks were screened. These 31 papers were analyzed, resulting in a digital business transformation framework with at least eight domains. The eight domains include the digital business transformation principles, areas of change, drivers, success factors/enablers, impact, challenges, readiness/maturity, and a step-by-step process.

Digitalisation transforms corporate governance by enhancing transparency, compliance, and decision-making processes. This study profiles the research landscape of digitalisation as a corporate governance mechanism through a bibliometric-systematic literature review (B-SLR) of 93 articles published between 2019 and 2024 from the Scopus database. Bibliometric techniques, including co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling, were combined with systematic content analysis using Atlas.ti to identify thematic clusters and emerging trends. The findings reveal an upward trend in publications, particularly after 2019, with four major themes emerging: risk management, corporate governance, digitalisation, and sustainable development. Key technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and Industry 4.0, appear as pivotal elements in digital governance frameworks. Sustainability has emerged as a growing concern, indicating the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals into digital transformation strategies. However, gaps persist regarding sector-specific applications and empirical insights on practical implementations. While digitalisation demonstrates transformative potential for strengthening accountability, operational efficiency, and stakeholder engagement, limited exploration of contextual factors highlights the need for deeper investigations into industry-specific dynamics. This study advances theoretical understanding while providing actionable insights for practitioners and policymakers navigating digital governance transformation.

The paper aims to analyze the digital transformation process’s defining elements in the COVID-19 crisis. Starting from our main objective, which consists of a critical analysis of the defining elements of the digital transformation process in the conditions of the COVID-19 crisis, we formulate the following specific objectives: to analyze the contribution of external organizational factors to put into practice the new opportunities created by the organization’s digital transformation; to evaluate the impact of digital competencies on the digital transformation of organizations; and to analyze the role of new technologies in developing digital competencies. We used the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and the bootstrapped method to evaluate the model fit, and the model was tested by SmartPLS4 software. Our research is based on information from 203 employees with authority for decision making about the digital transformation strategy in their organizations undergoing a digital transformation process. Our findings revealed that organizations, regardless of size, profile, or field of activity, are affected by changes induced by new technologies and the crisis generated by COVID-19. Therefore, formulating a digital transformation strategy must aim to minimize the risks of obsolescence and maximize the results from exploiting new digital resources. However, our results do not prove that COVID-19 crises directly and positively influence the development of digital competencies. This leads us to conclude that developing these competencies is a continuous process unaffected by disruptive factors such as crises. Instead, the development of digital competencies is influenced by new technologies. Therefore, the COVID-19 crisis directly and positively influences organizations’ developing and implementing a digital transformation strategy and new technologies. The theoretical contribution of our research consists of an explanation of the role of perturbator factors, such as the crisis generated by COVID-19, in developing digital competencies and improving digital transformation. The practical contributions are dedicated to managers that should have a different approach to the negative phenomena that will be considered catalytic factors of the digital transformation and disruptive factors of the organizational climate.

The digital transformation is profoundly changing organizations and creating new comparative advantages but also necessitating new approaches to management and organizational strategy. The majority of research on business’ digital transformation focuses on technological adoption, innovation, value creation and the dynamic capabilities of organizations. However, the question of why different organizations approach the digital transformation in various ways remains less explored. This article examines the possibilities of inferring various factors that have an impact on the adoption of digital technologies in order to improve the understanding of organizations' digital transformation strategies. Factors such as size, internationalization, research and development (R&D) expenses, foreign direct investment (FDI), turnover, wages and salaries have an expected impact on the adoption of new technologies in an organization and its digital transformation. This is supported by organizational theories such as the resource-based view (RBV), the knowledge-based view (KBV) and the technology-organization-environment (TOE) frameworks. Through examples from the scientific literature, a summary is provided on how the study of the interrelationships between these factors and organizations’ digital transformation can contribute to a better understanding of the different strategies in this field.

A legújabb ipari forradalom jelentősen átalakítja az üzleti világot és sok vállalatot digitális transzformációra ösztönöz. A digitális transzformáció során a vállalat a szervezeti működés több területén (pl. stratégia, szervezet, technológia) változtat azért, hogy azok a digitális megoldások vállalati intézményesítését támogassák. A szakirodalom alapján kijelenthető, hogy a vezetői stílus kulcsfontosságú tényező a vállalatok transzformációs törekvéseiben. A szerzők kutatásukban azt vizsgálják, hogy a vezetői stílusok milyen hatással vannak a digitális transzformációra. Elemzésükhöz 94 feldolgozóipari vállalat adatait használták fel, amelyek a Versenyképesség Kutató Központ kérdőíves felméréséből származnak. A feladatorientált és kapcsolatorientált vezetői stílusok jellemzői keverten jelennek meg: az egyik feltárt stílus a célokra és megvalósításra fókuszál, a másik a teljesítményre és emberre. A digitális transzformáció szintén két pillérre épül: a digitális transzformációs stratégia mellett a digitális transzformációs tevékenységekre. Fő megállapításuk, hogy a digitális transzformációs stratégiára mindkét vezetői stílus szignifikáns pozitív hatással van. A digitális transzformációs tevékenységekre azonban csak a célokra és megvalósításra fókuszáló stílus hat pozitívan.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, digital transformation has become a strategic imperative for growth enterprises seeking to enhance operational efficiency, improve customer experiences, and drive innovation. However, the successful execution of digital transformation initiatives hinges on the alignment between Information Technology (IT) and business objectives. This alignment ensures that technological investments directly support organizational goals and contribute to sustainable growth. Despite the significant attention given to digital transformation, there remains a gap in understanding the best practices and frameworks for achieving optimal IT-business alignment in growing enterprises. This explores recent advances in digital transformation strategies, with a focus on the role of IT-business alignment in driving business success. It examines the emerging trends in aligning IT initiatives with business goals, including agile methodologies, cloud adoption, data-driven decision-making, and the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. By reviewing case studies of growth enterprises, this highlights the critical factors that contribute to successful IT-business alignment, such as leadership commitment, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous adaptation to market changes. Additionally, this delves into the challenges faced by enterprises in achieving seamless integration between IT and business strategies, including resource constraints, organizational silos, and the complexity of managing legacy systems alongside new digital tools. The findings underscore the importance of a dynamic approach to alignment that evolves with technological advancements and business priorities. Ultimately, this research provides valuable insights for growth enterprises looking to refine their digital transformation strategies. It offers actionable recommendations on fostering stronger IT-business alignment, emphasizing its pivotal role in ensuring the long-term success of digital initiatives and driving competitive advantage in an increasingly digital world.

Digital transformation refers to technological application with a comprehensive shift in corporate governance's mindset, structure, and strategy. In particular, digital transformation project management is key in ensuring that digital transformation initiatives are implemented on schedule and achieve the set goals. This study investigates the importance of a leader's project management competence and other internal factors in successfully implementing digital transformation projects. Through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data collected from questionnaires administered to 436 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam shows that all four internal factors included in the model directly affect the transform digital ability and indirectly affects the level of digital transformation of SMEs, in which the most decisive influence comes from digital transformation strategy, followed by the influence of corporate culture, technology platform and finally workforce competence. More specifically, this study has demonstrated that an enterprise's digital transformation can be considered a project, and the leader's project management competence determines the project's success. The project management capacity of the enterprise leaders not only directly affects the digital transformation results but also plays a positive moderator in the association between digital transformation capability and the digital transformation level of SMEs. The results suggest several recommendations for leaders of SMEs in Thanh Hoa Province to improve project management capacity, thereby promoting the digital transformation process.

Digital transformation of the construction sector is one of the key tasks in the development of the digital economy both in Russia and abroad. However, at present, the digital transformation of the construction sector is carried out at an insufficient pace due to the lack of an effective mechanism for financing this process in construction. In this article, we have collected and analysed data on financing mechanisms for digital transformation projects in the construction sector in the European Union, China, India, UAE, as well as in Russia. As a result of this study, we substantiate the relevance of improving the mechanisms to finance digital transformation projects in the construction sector and substantiate the dependence of the pace of digital transformation in the construction sector on the level of development of the mechanism for financing the digital transformation process.

Global spending on Digital Transformation is expected to hit the astonishing amount of $4 trillion by 2027. However, as some research works indicates, only 35% of these efforts are considered successful in terms of creating a real impact on the company’s financial results. This research work’s objective is to analyze Digital Transformation’s academic performance in the Industrial and Construction sectors, highlighting the most prolific geographic regions, institutions, and tracing the thematic evolution of research topics over time. The methodology followed is divided in three phases: first, a search query is applied to the Web of Science database to identify publications related to the study of Digital Transformation in the Industrial and Construction sector; second, a cleaned datasheet is obtained through data-mining techniques; finally, network analysis makes it possible to analyze the collaborations between different authors and organizations and to detect the most important and influential research topics. These results will form the basis for a comprehensive understanding of how Digital Transformation initiatives are being conceptualized, implemented, and assessed in Industrial and Construction sectors, while also identify areas where further investigation is needed to enhance our understanding of digital disruption in industrial environments.

The world around us is changing. The workforce is changing rapidly. The pandemic and the war have drastically shortened the business path to remote and hybrid work models. The advent of technology and data makes personnel management easy and more complex at one time. Business processes of personnel management are undergoing significant changes under the influence of digitalization. For this transformation to be manageable and meet organizational needs, digital HR strategy formation is necessary. Theoretical understanding and modernization of context defining the new challenges of the digital HR transformation, its stages, components and elements, and the development of a digital HR strategy for the transformation of personnel management are necessary. The article is devoted to the study of the paradigm of digital HR strategy forming, namely: concepts, components, principles, and stages of its forming in organizations. The relationship between the concepts of digital HR transformation and digital HR strategy is substantiated. Vectors and stages of digital HR transformation are highlighted. The components of the digital HR transformation are summarized and characterized, and the components of the digital HR strategy are selected based on them. The introduction of new HR technologies must be supported by a digital HR strategy, which is a detailed plan for the digital transformation of personnel management. To sustain the digital transformation of HR management, companies need a clear digital HR strategy that will involve a strategic rethinking of the use of digital HR technologies to increase business value; rules for forming and implementing a digital HR strategy. The software has enormous potential, but it is important to approach the choice strategically. Any investment in new technology should be tied to specific company goals and have a detailed deployment plan. Modern business tasks cannot be solved using outdated solutions, so traditional sets of HR competencies will not be sufficient; they need to be updated to include new means of communication and critical analysis. In addition, HR teams cannot and should not allow others to make important technological decisions for them, impose on them solutions that are not designed specifically to solve the problems of personnel management of a specific business environment; and, instead, take the initiative to develop and implement a digital HR strategy.

The article is devoted to the study of the financial mechanism of the enterprise, theoretical approaches to its formation and structuring, with an emphasis on the areas of application of digital tools in decision-making processes and implementation of financial management functions at the enterprise. The main focus is on revealing the influence of digital technologies on the financial mechanism of the enterprise, as well as on the potential of these technologies from the standpoint of increasing the effectiveness, flexibility and efficiency of the management of the enterprise's financial resources. Goal. The purpose of the article is to study the theoretical aspects of the financial mechanism of the enterprise in the conditions of digital business transformations. Method (methodology). The study is based on the analysis of the use of digital technologies in the management of the company's financial resources, the assessment of their impact on the financial mechanism of the company. The methods of analysis, synthesis, systematization, and generalization are used to determine the advantages, risks, and threats of introducing digital technologies into the financial mechanism of the enterprise. The results. The results of the study indicate that in today's dynamic market environment, the financial mechanism of the enterprise must be flexible enough, able to quickly adapt to new unpredictable realities of functioning. This can be achieved through the introduction and active use of digital technologies in the process of collecting and processing information, making management decisions and controlling the formation and use of the company's financial resources. Due to the use of such digital technologies as data analytics, cloud services and online platforms, chatbots, machine learning, integral digital analytical systems, artificial intelligence, it is possible to ensure the increase in the effectiveness of the financial mechanism of the enterprise. Despite the significant positive effects of the digitization of management processes and decision-making procedures in the field of enterprise finance, such changes carry risks and threats to the economic activity of the enterprise, and the actual effectiveness of digital transformations may not fully meet expectations.