Resumo

Digital Transformation (DT) brings new rules for markets and for managers to deal with. Due to the rapid acess of information, that might create unique advantages for firms. Dynamic Managerial Capabilities (DMCs) are a framework that is embased on managers capabilities to sense market changes and manipulate firm’s resources to sustain competitiveness in a changing environment. However, there is still much to know about what enables or constrains managers DMCs, what are the mechanisms, such as the antecedents of DT and if managers have a role to play on it to achieve Digital Maturity (DM).

Investigating the relationship between top managers’ (TMgs) Dynamic Managerial Capabilities (DMCs) and International Overall Performance on Portuguese International SMEs. And addressing the limited understanding concerning the mediating effects of Digital Maturity (DM) and the moderation effect of Market Turbulence (MKTUB) on International Overall Performance (IOP).

The concept of DMCs pretends to focus on managers characteristics that affect resources, internal attributes, and external environment to a more effective organizational performance (Adner et al., 2003; Helfat and Martin, 2015). Digital transformation brings the firm the possibility to optimize processes, access to more information about market changes and allow managers better decisions that drives superior performance (L. Li, 2022). Digital Maturity (DM) is the measure of DT on firms (Çallı and Çallı, 2021) evaluating how much digital is the company (He et al., 2022).

Data was collected using a survey by questionnaire from International Portuguese SMEs. The responses were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) and path analysis using IBM® SPSS® Amos™.

We find evidence of a positive impact of DMCs on International Overall Performance and Digital Maturity. Additionally, we find a mediating effect of Digital Maturity between DMCs and IOP, and a negative moderation of Market Turbulence between DM and IOP. The moderation analysis also shows that DM always led to an increase on IOP and that MKTUB dampens this effect.

This study brings additional information to a question raised by management literature regarding the concept of Dynamic Managerial Capabilities stated by Adner et al., (2003) and about its underlying mechanisms (Huynh, Wilden and Gudergan, 2022). We also bring new information about DM as a mediator between DMCs and IOP. Finally, this study enriches the context of market turbulence moderation, showing the effects that it has on DM/IOP relationship.

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