IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cwk/ajocsk/2025-95.html

The Influence of Digital Transformation on the Financial Performance of Telecommunications Firms: A Case of Airtel Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Cholwe Mbilima

    (The University of Zambia)

  • Jackson Phiri

    (University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia)

Abstract

This study examined the influence of digital transformation on the financial performance of telecommunications firms using Airtel Zambia as a case study. Guided by the Resource-Based View, Dynamic Capabilities Theory, and Disruptive Innovation Theory, the research used a descriptive design and collected data from 97 employees through structured questionnaires. Regression and correlation analyses revealed that digital literacy and digital investments positively influence financial performance, while digital capability had a weaker influence. The findings emphasize the importance of aligning digital capabilities with strategic objectives and investing in relevant digital technologies to enhance competitiveness and financial outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Cholwe Mbilima & Jackson Phiri, 2025. "The Influence of Digital Transformation on the Financial Performance of Telecommunications Firms: A Case of Airtel Zambia," African Journal of Commercial Studies, African Journal of Commercial Studies, vol. 6(5).
    • Handle: RePEc:cwk:ajocsk:2025-95
    DOI: 10.59413/ajocs/v6.i5.2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ijcsacademia.com/index.php/journal/article/view/188
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.59413/ajocs/v6.i5.2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luong Hai Nguyen & Tsunemi Watanabe, 2017. "The Impact of Project Organizational Culture on the Performance of Construction Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-21, May.
    2. André Hanelt & René Bohnsack & David Marz & Cláudia Antunes Marante, 2021. "A Systematic Review of the Literature on Digital Transformation: Insights and Implications for Strategy and Organizational Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1159-1197, July.
    3. Manita, Riadh & Elommal, Najoua & Baudier, Patricia & Hikkerova, Lubica, 2020. "The digital transformation of external audit and its impact on corporate governance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Andove Wilson Mwangu & Mike Amuhaya Iravo, 2015. "How Monitoring and Evaluation Affects the Outcome of Constituency Development Fund Projects in Kenya: A Case Study of Projects in Gatanga Constituency," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(3), pages 13-31, March.
    5. Cenamor, Javier & Parida, Vinit & Wincent, Joakim, 2019. "How entrepreneurial SMEs compete through digital platforms: The roles of digital platform capability, network capability and ambidexterity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 196-206.
    6. Nhat Hong Nguyen & Martin Skitmore & Johnny Kwok Wai Wong, 2009. "Stakeholder impact analysis of infrastructure project management in developing countries: a study of perception of project managers in state-owned engineering firms in Vietnam," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(11), pages 1129-1140.
    7. Riadh Manita & Najoua Elommal & Patricia Baudier & Lubica Hikkerova, 2020. "The digital transformation of external audit and its impact on corporate governance," Post-Print hal-04314467, HAL.
    8. Sasaki, S. & Suzuki, H. & Fujino, Y. & Kimura, Y. & Cheelo, M., 2009. "Impact of drainage networks on cholera outbreaks in Lusaka, Zambia," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(11), pages 1982-1987.
    9. Jens B Aune, 2000. "Logical Framework Approach and PRA - mutually exclusive or complementary tools for project planning?," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(5), pages 687-690, November.
    10. Mazurina Mohd Ali & Sakinah Zahra Norman & Erlane K. Ghani* & Noor Hasniza Haron, 2018. "The Influence of Risk Management on Construction Project Performance: A Case Study," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 936-942:5.
    11. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Chonghui & Chai, Binfeng & Mirza, Sultan Sikandar & Jin, Ying, 2024. "Customer-driven value creation in the digital economy: Determining the role of customer firms’ digital transformation on supplier performance in China," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    2. Shao, Yanmin & Xu, Kunliang & Shan, Yuan George, 2024. "Leveraging corporate digitalization for green technology innovation: The mediating role of resource endowments," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Yu, Ying & Wu, Haoyang & Tan, Yijiang, 2025. "Does digitalizing supply chains enhance corporate financial stability?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Li, Yu & Zhong, Huiyi & Tong, Qiye, 2024. "Artificial intelligence, dynamic capabilities, and corporate financial asset allocation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    5. Zhukun Lou & Mingran Li & Yuan George Shan & Ailin Ye, 2024. "Does corporate digitalisation moderate real earnings management?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(4), pages 4157-4196, December.
    6. Zahid Sarwar & Jingmei Gao & Adnan Khan, 2024. "Nexus of digital platforms, innovation capability, and strategic alignment to enhance innovation performance in the Asia Pacific region: a dynamic capability perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 867-901, June.
    7. Fang, Xubing & Liu, Maotao, 2024. "How does the digital transformation drive digital technology innovation of enterprises? Evidence from enterprise's digital patents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    8. Dong, Yao & Xia, Yuhuan & Qi, Xin, 2025. "Technology yields spoils: The impact of digitalization on innovation value appropriation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    9. Zhang, Lu & Balia, Sophee Sulong bin, 2024. "Digital transformation and corporate audit risk: Mediating effects of auditor behavior," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    10. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    11. Jia Liu & Jingyao Li & Shuwei Wang, 2025. "Do Executives with IT Backgrounds Influence the Selection of Corporate Auditors in the Context of Digital Innovation?—An Examination from a Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-19, October.
    12. Papanagnou, Christos & Seiler, Andreas & Spanaki, Konstantina & Papadopoulos, Thanos & Bourlakis, Michael, 2022. "Data-driven digital transformation for emergency situations: The case of the UK retail sector," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    13. Markus Menz & Sven Kunisch & Julian Birkinshaw & David J. Collis & Nicolai J. Foss & Robert E. Hoskisson & John E. Prescott, 2021. "Corporate Strategy and the Theory of the Firm in the Digital Age," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(7), pages 1695-1720, November.
    14. Zahid Sarwar & Muhammad Asif Khan & Zhen Yang & Adnan Khan & Muhammad Haseeb & Aaqib Sarwar, 2021. "An Investigation of Entrepreneurial SMEs’ Network Capability and Social Capital to Accomplish Innovativeness: A Dynamic Capability Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    15. Wen Chen & Changyi Zhu & Qi Cheung & Siying Wu & Jun Zhang & Jia Cao, 2024. "How does digitization enable green innovation? Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 3832-3854, July.
    16. Broccardo, Laura & Tenucci, Andrea & Agarwal, Reeti & Alshibani, Safiya Mukhtar, 2024. "Steering digitalization and management control maturity in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    17. Wang, Weilong & Xiao, Deheng & Wang, Jianlong & Wu, Haitao, 2024. "The cost of pollution in the digital era: Impediments of air pollution on enterprise digital transformation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    18. Kroh, Julia & Globocnik, Dietfried & Schultz, Carsten & Holdhof, Frederike & Salomo, Søren, 2024. "Micro-foundations of digital innovation capability – A mixed method approach to develop and validate a multi-dimensional measurement instrument," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    19. David B. Audretsch & Maribel Guerrero, 2023. "Is ambidexterity the missing link between entrepreneurship, management, and innovation?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1891-1918, December.
    20. Ying Wu & Yuanyue Deng, 2024. "Does digital transformation crowd out the employment of lower skill labor?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(3), pages 726-748, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cwk:ajocsk:2025-95. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Charles G. Kamau (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ijcsacademia.com/index.php/journal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.