Sama Radial Indicator (SRI) and 3-D Digital Maturity Model (3DDMM) for Measuring Digital Maturity of Organizations in the H&T Industry of Sri Lanka

Digital transformation changes the horizons of the Hospitality and Tourism (H&T) industry. More than ever, tourists have the opportunity to access real-time information about accommodations, travel, and other travel-related details; hence, they have become more demanding regarding prices and facilities. To survive in the highly competitive market, the organizations in the H&T industry are forced to adopt digital technologies. However, digitalization is a time-consuming and costly process, hence, organizations need to assess their place in the digitalization journey. Digital Maturity (DM) is the measurement used to determine the degree of adoption of digital technologies. This study is focused on assessing the DM of organizations in the H&T industry of Sri Lanka, a famous travel destination. The population of the study was the ‘Accommodation Sector’ of the H&T industry of Sri Lanka. A random sample of one hundred organizations was selected for the data collection, a structured questionnaire was used to obtain the data from employers/ employees of the organizations. This study used the recently developed 3-D Digital Maturity Model (3DDMM) for measuring the DM of the organizations. The 3DDMM defines its dimensions: Digital Capability (DC) of organization, Leadership Capability (LC) of organization, and Digital Literacy of employers/employees (DLE) as continuous random variables, but as per the literature, they are qualitative random variables that are not directly measurable. The Sama Radial Indicator (SRI) is a recently developed measurement scale that is said to be capable of converting a qualitative random variable to a continuous scale, hence, this study used SRI to measure the variables. Results of the study revealed that variables DC, LC, and DLE are continuous random variables, further satisfy the normality criterion. Then the study used 3DDMM to calculate the DM of organizations. It was found that the DC and LC of the organizations of the H&T industry of Sri Lanka are moderate, whilst the DLE is high. The DM of the organizations is also high and follows a Chi distribution. It is concluded that SRI is a suitable scale for converting qualitative random variables to a continuous scale, and 3DDMM is a suitable model for measuring the DM of organizations.