Faceting digitalization as continuous improvement in business internationalization: a multi-mediated pathway from B2B managerial strategies to organizational performance

Purpose The current research aims to explore a multifactor framework covering business-to-business (B2B) managerial strategies and practices, digitalization, business competitiveness and organizational performance against the backdrop of internationalization. In this front, digitalization is approached as a continuous improvement facet given its nature as an ongoing, iterative process fundamental to achieving and sustaining internationalization objectives. Design/methodology/approach To meet the research purpose, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted on a sample of 207 respondents, representing top managers of Romanian companies involved in internationalization processes. The collected data were analyzed using SmartPLS 4 software, a robust structural equation modeling technique, enabling the evaluation of complex relationships among the variables under study. Findings The structural model accounts for 33.9% of the variance in proactive managerial practices, 22.1% in digitalization, 27.8% in competitiveness and 43.5% in organizational performance, indicating that the proposed model has moderate explanatory power overall. In addition, most of the advanced research hypotheses were validated. At the same time, two were not supported by the empirical data for their direct effects (i.e. the relationships between B2B managerial strategies and digitalization and between proactive managerial practices and competitiveness). Originality/value The study highlights the role of proactive managerial practices and digitalization as meaningful mediators in the relationships between B2B managerial strategies and business competitiveness and between organizational performance and digitalization, respectively.