SMEs Digitalisation – The Key Role of Digital Orientation

This study investigates the significance of strategic orientation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) digitalisation, focusing on the key role of digital orientation. The study was based on data obtained through a standardised questionnaire from 308 SMEs in Bulgaria. Using Smart PLS 4 it tests a model with the mediating role of digital orientation, management support, and perceived benefits between SMEs’ digital intensity and three other strategic orientations—customer orientation, risk-taking, and employees’ skills—as components of market, entrepreneurial, and learning orientation, respectively. The data show that digital orientation enhances management commitment, perceived benefits, and SMEs’ digital intensity, supported by other strategic orientations, and mediates their positive effects on these variables. The study contributes to the literature by revealing the complementary effects of four strategic orientations on SMEs digitalisation. These results suggest that SMEs managers must develop such orientations to remain competitive in the digital economy.