Assessing the Mediating Effect of Digital Transformation between Digital Leadership, Learning and Sustainable Performance among the Textile SMEs of Punjab
Creators: name: Dr. Tasawar Javed
name: Javeria Azhar
name: Dr. Shahid Mehmood
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Digital Transformation, Digital Leadership, Digital Learning, Sustainable Performance, Textile SME Sector.

description: Abstract

This research aims to address sustainable performance in a highly turbulent, rapidly changing, and intensively competitive environment that has become a crucial challenge for survival. Digitally equipped workplaces have become a necessity of the present era due to economic and environmental perspectives. Digital transformation has gained importance in the current turbulent environment as a market-driven approach requires the transformation of existing business practices to be successful. The firms focus on devising digital transformation strategies for attaining sustainable performance, which is possible with digital leadership and digital learning. This research effort contributes to the body of knowledge in explaining the phenomenon of sustainable performance by expressing the role of a digitally equipped leadership approach and the crucial importance of digital learning. Digital leadership and learning contribute to digital transformation which further leads to ensure sustainable performance. The research is also novel in explaining and empirically examining the mediation role of digital transformation between exogenous and endogenous constructs. Pakistani textile SME sector is facing crucial barriers in the adoption of digital transformation including lack of government interest, lack of financial, physical and human resources, insufficient infrastructure and training, lack of research culture, and unsupportive behavior of leadership in the adoption and implementation of AI tools. There is a dire need to conduct this study to highlight crucial issues and challenges faced by the textile sector, in the implementation of digital tools for manufacturing purposes, and hurdles in initiating digital transformation drive. This study pinpoints the crucial role of digital leadership and learning to predict digital transformation that further leads to sustainable performance, as prior literature has identified the lacking situation of the textile sector of Pakistan. The researchers argued that digital leadership should be the prime concern in the successful adoption and implementation of digital technological tools for manufacturing purposes and digital learning is necessary in continuous usage and upgradation of technological tools for sustainable performance. The rule of thumb technique was applied for data collection and analyzed on Smart-PLS. It has been reported that digital leadership and learning significantly influence in digital transformation that further leads to sustainable performance. Furthermore, the in the presence of digital transformation the relationship between digital leadership and sustainable performance, and between digital learning and sustainable performance becomes significant. The study’s findings suggested ensuring a digitally-oriented leadership approach for ensuring digital transformation and sustainable performance. Further, the relationship between digital learning and sustainable performance becomes significant in the presence of digital transformation.