A serial mediation effect of digital transformation on employee performance: An ability-motivation-opportunity framework and employee unlearning

Digital transformation has become a critical driver for organizational success in an increasingly technology-driven and competitive world. While prior research has identified various individual-level factors that enable employee adaptation, these insights remain fragmented and lack a systematic framework. Drawing on the theory of work adjustment and the ability-motivation-opportunity framework, this research proposes and tests a serial mediation model through which organizational digital transformation enhances employee competence, motivation to learn, and job autonomy and then employee unlearning, leading to enhanced employee job performance. Results based on a time-lagged field study involving 265 employees and their respective supervisors from six companies in southern China support all hypotheses. By integrating previously disparate perspectives under a cohesive framework, this research advances theory on employee adaptation in the digital era and offers a few meaningful takeaways for practitioners.