EXAMINING DIGITAL CAPABILITIES AND THEIR ROLE IN THE DIGITAL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

The digital economy has advanced from the growing investment in digital technologies by organizations in their digital transformation process. Furthermore, digital technologies are reshaping traditional business strategy for performance gains. However, there is still no in-depth discussion regarding the skills and capabilities that can help organizations improve their performance. Thus, the purpose of our research is to examine the role of digital capabilities in digital business performance. We adopted a qualitative research method to explore digital capabilities. To do so, we conducted interviews with 31 executives that work in digital businesses. The research makes several contributions through the conceptualization of digital capabilities, providing some initial results revealed in the previous conceptual framework, based on the literature review, composed of digital capabilities (sensing, responsiveness, process scanning, and ecosystem connectivity) related to digital business performance, and empirically analyzed by interviews with executives. The practical value of this research rests on the relationship between digital capabilities and the digital business performance. As a result, we present four digital capabilities that enhance operational excellence, revenue growth and relationships with customers and stakeholders.