Impact of Digital Culture on Digital Transformation in Pakistan's Textile Industry: The Mediating Role of Digital Leadership

Abstract

In this study, digital leadership (DL) is discussed as a mediating variable between digital culture (DC) and digital transformation (DT) in the context of textile industry in Pakistan, given the scarcity of empirical evidence in manufacturing firms in developing countries. The research method adopted was quantitative research design and data collected by conducting a face-to-face questionnaire survey of 229 textile firms in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad by convenience and snowball sampling. The validated measures were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. PLS-SEM with bootstrapping 5000 was used to test the proposed relationships in SmartPLS, with the use of bootstrapping to evaluate the direct and indirect effects. All four hypotheses are supported by the results. DC significantly positively influenced DL (β = 0.689), and directly influenced DT (β = 0.452) which was also significantly positive, while DL positively influenced DT (β = 0.382). There was also a significant indirect effect of DL on DT via DC (β = 0.263), suggesting partial mediation as the direct effect of DC on DT remained significant. In practice, textile companies need to foster an environment that promotes digital culture and build digital skills within their leadership team to enhance the adoption and success of digital transformation strategies. The study adds to the existing body of studies on digital transformation by testing a mediation framework in a developing-country manufacturing industry, and it offers empirical evidence from the Pakistani textile industry, where research on such transformation is scarce.