Social Influences, Cognitive Competence, Problem-Solving Skills: A Case Study of Problem-Solving Skills in the Context of Digitalization Adoption

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationships between social influences related to digital transformation adoption and cognitive competency in forming problem-solving skills. A deduction approach associated with the positivist philosophy was employed in order to build up the research model to explain the process of shaping problem-solving skills. By sending questionnaires randomly via Google Forms, a cross-sectional study with 337 respondents aged 17 years and older, including men and women with an education level of high school or higher, was conducted in southern Vietnam. Prior to assessing the measurement and structural models, the reliability and validity of measurement scales were examined by Cronbach’s alpha using SPSS software. The SmartPLS software then was utilized to analyze the measurement and structural models and test the hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modelling. According to research findings, social influences associated with the implementation of digital transformation had a direct positive impact on workers' cognitive competency as well as their problem-solving skills. In addition, the research model also demonstrated the effects of cognitive processes when receiving social impacts through direct and indirect mechanisms on problem-solving skills, in which low thinking ability was the foundation for high thinking and creative abilities. Based on these findings, the research opened a novel approach to problem-solving skills through the mechanism of the impacts of stimuli on organisms and organisms on responses that were a premise for managers to provide and orient information to improve employees' cognitive abilities and problem-solving skills.