Does digital leadership capability, knowledge management capability, and organizational agility foster digital transformation in China? A time-lagged survey-based assessment in digital transformation projects

Digital transformation (DT) initiatives often experience frequent delays and failures worldwide due to nascent insight into the complex interplay of organizational and human capabilities required for success. The paper builds on dynamic capability theory (DCT) to examine the effects of digital leadership capability (DLC) and knowledge management capability (KMC) on DT directly and indirectly through the mediating role of organizational agility. The researchers adopted a cross-sectional research design and purposive sampling method to collect and analyze data from 328 workers in companies that have adopted DT strategies using SPSS 24 and SmartPLS 3.1.9. The findings corroborated the significant and positive impact of DLC and KMC on DT performance while offering evidence for the mediating role of organizational agility between DLC, KMC, and DT performance. The interdisciplinary paper significantly advances the current knowledge base in strategic management and information systems literature by empirically demonstrating the role of DLC and KMC in enhancing DT in China. Specifically, the empirical framework supports the application of DCT in diverse organizational settings, i.e., IT. More so, the findings establish organizational agility as a significant complementary mechanism that enables DT under the framework of DLC and KMC.