Digitalization and Sustainable Competitive Performance in Small–Medium Enterprises: A Moderation Mediation Model

Research on the relationship between digitalization and firm performance has grown exponentially over the past decade. However, most studies in this area have concentrated on large firms, focusing on IT capabilities in developed markets. The exploration of how digitalization drives sustainable competitive performance in emerging SMEs remains a largely uncharted territory. Specifically, the mechanisms through which digital strategy enhances digital capability and, in turn, leads to sustainable competitive performance in manufacturing SMEs, have received limited attention. To bridge this gap and contribute to the literature, we conducted a survey involving 376 manufacturing SMEs and employed SPSS.25 and AMOS.24 for data analysis. Our results indicate that digital strategy positively influences the sustainable competitive performance of manufacturing SMEs, with this relationship being partially mediated by digital capability. Additionally, we found that digital culture plays a reinforcing role in the connection between digital strategy and digital capability. This study contributes to the literature on dynamic capability by highlighting the significance of digital strategy and digital culture as antecedents to sustainable competitive performance, with digital capability acting as an intervening variable for manufacturing SMEs. The findings show that SMEs should promote digital culture and strategies that in turn enhance their digital capability and sustainable competitive performance in the dynamic markets.