Digital transformation, research and development, and financial performance of agricultural companies

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.