A Delphi-Based Index System for Digital Transformation Capability of Retailers

Abstract

Digital transformation capability (DTC), as an important capability to use digital technology to innovate business and management models, enables retailers reduce costs, and enhance production. It is the main driving force for restructuring the business ecosystem of retailers. To develop the DTC of retailers, an index system is required to provide capability standards. Hence, the construction of an index system for retailers’ DTC is of important research value. However, there are few studies on the DTC of retailers, and no representative capability model or index system has been formed. Therefore, based on the definition of related concepts of DTC and literature review, this paper puts forward the research proposition of “index system for retailers’ DTC”, aiming to build an operable and applicable index system. According to the research process of the Delphi method, the present paper constructs an index system for retailers’ DTC through two rounds of expert consultations. The proposed system consists of three primary indices (e.g., technological change capability), 11 secondary indices (e.g., digital infrastructure) and 41 tertiary indices (e.g., datacenter), offering a capability development standard for the digital transformation of retailers. The research results also provide a reference for the digital transformation of retailers in the real world.

Configuration of factors influencing the performance of new retailers in the context of digital transformation—Based on the resource action perspective

“…This was followed by the description of a dynamic resource-based view (Helfat & Peteraf, 2003). Digital transformation capability is one of the most important dynamic management capabilities of companies (Anim-Yeboah et al, 2020;Pan et al, 2022)…”

Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary perspective and future research agenda

“…Digitalization is considered as the conversion of business processes using digital technology and it includes both digitization and digitalization (Wang, Huang, et al, 2021). The organization needs to be digitally capable to use the digital technology to change the business processes (Pan et al, 2022). In this, the areas such as information management, flexible development, and IT technology are included (Levallet & Chan, 2018).…”

Digital Transformation for SMEs Development Based at Four Levels of Analysis – A Literature Review

“…It is possible that the search terms or the specific databases used might have limited the results. The second greatest number of publications originated from Asian nations with burgeoning power and developing Asian economies, such as China (Ates & Acur, 2022;Hansen, 2019;Huang et al, 2022;Pan et al, 2022;Yu et al, 2022), India (Chatterjee et al, 2022;Khurana et al, 2022;Nair et al, 2019;S. Singh et al, 2021), Iran (Jafari Sadeghi et al, 2022), Indonesia (Fachrunnisa et al, 2020), and Malaysia (Ismail et al, 2021;Rusly et al, 2021;Tajudeen et al, 2022), as well as from an Asian developed country, Singapore (Lin et al, 2020).…”

“…This topic is usually fragmented into the issues of digital transformation, digital capability, and digital transformation capability, as these are interrelated concepts for organizational competitiveness in the digital era. Due to their contributions, these issues have been subject to numerous studies (Pan et al, 2022). However, there remains a lack of comprehensive knowledge of digital transformation strategies.…”

“…Wilhelm even foresaw the coming of the digital age in 1703, but researchers did not take interest in the subject until the early 21 st century (Khin and Ho, 2019). Later, a suitable study was expanded to include a definition of "digitalization" (Pan et al, 2022).…”