article · Acta Commercii
Digitalisation offers substantial advantages and operational hurdles for modern businesses, yet adoption relies heavily on how internal stakeholders perceive these potential gains. An empirical investigation evaluated the perceptions of 111 managers and non-managerial staff across Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed companies within the manufacturing, retail, and financial sectors in South Africa. Analysis revealed an overall positive perception of digitalisation benefits across participating firms, confirming a broad workforce mindset that supports organisational readiness for change. At the same time, the research identified significant differences in perceived benefits across the three sectors, demonstrating that digital transformation experiences are not uniform. Rooted in the resource-based view, these outcomes suggest that organisational capabilities and specific industry environments dictate the realised value of technology adoption, highlighting that transformation programmes require customised sectoral strategies rather than standardised approaches.
Adopting modern technologies requires buy-in from staff at every tier. Demonstrating that employees in an emerging market recognise the value of digitalisation provides reassurance to business leaders planning major operational shifts. Because perceptions differ across manufacturing, retail, and finance, leaders must design industry-tailored transition plans rather than applying generic solutions, ensuring workforce readiness aligns with sector-specific operational demands.
The findings provide applied market intelligence for corporate strategists, change management consultancies, and enterprise software vendors deploying digital solutions in emerging markets. The work is near-market in terms of advisory and consultancy use, helping technology providers calibrate change programmes and software rollouts to the differing needs and readiness levels of retail, financial, and manufacturing clients.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Orientation: Digitalisation presents opportunities and challenges for organisations. However, an organisational pursuit of digitalisation depends on the perceived benefits it offers. Research purpose: This study examined respondents’ perceptions of the benefits of digitalisation for organisations in the manufacturing, retail, and financial industries in South Africa. Motivation for the study: There is limited empirical research performed on the benefits of digitalisation for organisations across multiple industries in emerging economies such as South Africa. Research design, approach and method: A combination of non-probability sampling techniques was used to target non-managerial employees and managers from organisations in the finance, retail, and manufacturing industries in South Africa listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with a total of 111 usable responses received. Quantitative data were collected via a questionnaire and processed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 31. Descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis, one-sample t-tests, and Analysis of Variance were used to analyse the data. Main findings: The study delivered a one-factor model, indicating that the respondents had positive perceptions of the benefits of digitalisation for their organisations. The study also revealed significant differences across industries. Practical/managerial implications: The results reflect a positive mindset towards digitalisation, which contributes to readiness for change within organisations, and demonstrate the need for industry-specific digitalisation strategies. Contribution/value-add: The findings of this study provide empirical evidence from an emerging economic context and support the Resource-Based View by illustrating that the benefits of digitalisation for organisations depend on industry type and are driven by organisational capabilities.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.4102/ac.v26i1.1584
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
