Assessing the relationship between digital transformation and sustainable business excellence in a turbulent scenario

The Covid-19 pandemic has globally affected most of the industrial sectors, pushing public and private institutions to invest in digital transformation at a pace never experienced before. In such a turbulent scenario, companies, and especially small and medium-sized enterprise, must dynamically respond to this environment by undertaking a strategic transformation which involves changes in the organisation structure through the right digital interface and mechanisms to creating qualitative customer relationships and capturing value. Business success over time is built on leadership, people-based management, continuous improvements, management based on facts and constant customer focus. The evolutionary path of a firm's business model driven by digitalisation describes its maturity. This paper aims at assessing the relationship between digital business model maturity and the sustainability of business performance over time. The results of an online survey involving the executives of 162 small and medium-sized enterprise operating in the tourism sector of five different continents have been analysed to test this relationship. Through a Structural Equations Modelling approach, the study found statistical evidence of the positive effect of digital business model maturity on sustainable business success. In this manner, this study contributes to academic literature by linking the concepts of digital transformation, digital business model maturity and sustainable business excellence.