Digital Orientation Scale: Development and Validation

The concept of digital orientation (DO) is attracting increasing attention of academic and practicing managers. One possible reason for the scholars increasing attention on the concept of DO is the assumptions that digitally oriented firm are capable of building competitive advantage through the use of flexible resources. However, there is still no consensus on the concept of digital orientation, its dimensions and measurement scale. This literature gap limits the ability to comprehensively examine digital orientation and its performance outcomes at various firms and industries. This study was set to develop and validate a comprehensive measurement scale that can be used to examine the DO of a firm. A rigorous scale development processes [1] has been followed to specify, estimate, measure and validate the concept of digital orientation. The items were based on definitions and conceptualisation of the four identified dimensions of DO at the firm level. A pilot study was conducted using 20 participants for face validation. Jamovi statistical software was used to conduct exploratory factor analysis using 177 datasets and confirmatory factor analysis to further refined scale using 423 responses. The result reveals that the digital orientation of a firm consists of digital curiosity, digital alertness, digital openness and digital innovative passion. It is, therefore, a multidimensional second-order reflective model. This study is the first to develop a validate a measurement scale for digital orientation of a firm.