IMPACT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES ON PROJECT SUCCESS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF DIGITAL READINESS AND MODERATING ROLE OF DIGITAL LEADERSHIP

Abstract

Purpose: The paper will focus on the implications of digital technologies to the success of the project with digital readiness and digital leadership as the moderating and mediating variables, respectively, in project-driven organizations in Pakistan. According to the theoretical framework of Resource-Based View (RBV), the research paper claims that digital technologies can be regarded as strategic organizational resources, the value of which is conditional upon complementary organizational resources i.e. readiness and leadership.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design. The information was gathered among 220 project management practitioners in various specialties in Pakistan such as information technology, telecommunications, engineering and construction and pharmaceuticals. The structured questionnaires had five-point Likert scales. The data analysis was conducted with the help of SPSS (descriptive, reliability, and correlation analysis) and AMOS (structural equation modeling (SEM), mediation and moderation test).

Findings: The findings confirm that digital technologies have a strong positive impact on the success of the project (= 0.312, p < .001). Part of the reason is that this relationship is mediated by digital preparedness (indirect 95% CI = 0.131, 296), or that the organizational preparedness is a significant (quantifiably) conduit in which technological investments have ensuing quantifiable project outputs. Digital leadership has a huge moderating effect on the technology-success relationship (= 0.198, p < .001) and the readiness-success relationship (= 0.177, p < .001), enhancing the positive impacts of both digital technologies and readiness on project performance. Practical Implications The organizations in Pakistan and other developing economies must not just invest in the digital infrastructure and capabilities of the workforce; they must also, build the visionary digital leadership in order to be able to enjoy reaping maximum benefits on the investments they have made on the technologies. The findings give practical advice to project managers, organizational leaders and policymakers that have agendas in digital transformation.

Originality/Value: The study is an empirically validated unified framework and a generalization of the RBV theory to the domain of digital project management, and it is particularly relevant to the environment of the emerging economy where the digital preparedness and quality of leadership remain a significant constraint to the performance of projects based on technology.