Researching the Factors Influencing the Digital Transformation of Businesses in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam

The study on factors influencing digital transformation of businesses in Quang Binh province was conducted through a research model consisting of 6 factors: 1) Technology, 2) Resources of the business, 3) Business culture, 4) Business policies, 5) Digital infrastructure, 6) Government policies. The collected data from 500 businesses in Quang Binh province were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques, reliability testing of measurement scales, exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results of the research show that all 6 factors in the model have a positive influence on the digital transformation of businesses in Quang Binh province. Among them, the resource factor of businesses has the largest impact (0.393), followed by the technology factor (0.344), the business culture factor (0.18), the digital infrastructure factor (0.153), the government policies factor (0.117), and finally the business policies factor (0.060). This is an important basis for businesses and local authorities in Quang Binh province to propose solutions for developing resources, investing in technology, changing business culture, developing digital infrastructure, etc., in order to accelerate the digital transformation in businesses in Quang Binh province.


Literature Review and Research Model
• Digital transformation in businesses: There have been numerous studies providing definitions of digital transformation in businesses.According to Stolterman and Fors (2004), digital transformation is defined as the use of technology to significantly improve the efficiency or reach of a business.McDonald and Rowsell-Jones (2012) argue that digital transformation goes beyond simply digitizing resources, but rather the value created by businesses must be based on digital assets.Fitzgerald (2013) defines digital transformation in businesses as the use of new digital technologies, such as social media, smart mobile devices, advanced analytics, or automated linking systems to bring about significant changes in business operations, such as enhancing customer experience, optimizing activities, and creating new business models.Hess et al. (2016) suggest that digital transformation involves changes that digital technology can bring to business models, resulting in changes to products, organizational structure, or automation of business processes.In this study, we define digital transformation in businesses as the integration of technology and digital techniques into business operations with the main goal of increasing operational efficiency, improving customer experience, and generating competitive advantage and profit for businesses in the market.
• Factors affecting digital transformation in enterprises: There have been many studies mentioning the factors affecting digital transformation in enterprises.In which, technology is considered an important factor to promote successful digital transformation of enterprises (Lanzolla & Anderson, 2008;Chatterjee et al., 2002); Corporate culture is also an important factor affecting digital transformation of enterprises (Dremel et al., 2017;Kohli & Johnson, 2011).Synthesized results of Swen & Nadkarni (2020), internal factors affecting the digital transformation ability of technology-focused businesses and organizations.In particular, focusing on the organization, there are 4 factors mentioned: Leadership, business digital business strategy, employee and business capacity.Research by Anh & Nuong (2022), proposes a model of 6 internal factors affecting the digital transformation of enterprises, including: Leadership, digital business strategy, staff capacity, corporate culture, technology platform, pressure on businesses.In addition to the internal factors affecting the ability of enterprises to transform digitally as mentioned above, from the practice of researching enterprises in Quang Binh province, it is shown that the ability of enterprises to successfully transform and transform digitally is also influenced by external factors such as: State policies, digital infrastructure, the development of the economy, etc.: 1) Technology (CN), 2) Resources of the business (NL), 3) Business culture (VH), 4) Business policies (CS), 5) Digital infrastructure (HTS), 6) Government policies (CSN).
• Research model: On the basis of building research hypothesis about factors affecting digital transformation of enterprises in Quang Binh province, we build a research model according to Figure 1.The results of the literature review show that the researches focus on studying the internal factors affecting the digital transformation, there are no researches that combine both internal and external factors of the businesses.The author's research builds a research model with 4 internal factors and 2 external factors affecting the digital transformation of businesses.

Methodology
• Survey methods: Before conducting formal research, the author conducts preliminary research by reviewing the conducted studies and relevant documents; build observed variables, scale and conduct direct interviews with 10 businesses.Based on the recorded interview content, adjust the observed variables and scales accordingly and complete the questionnaire to carry out the official research.According, the research identifies the survey subjects, the survey locations, the sample size and creates the questionnaire.The questionnaire is designed according to 6 independent variables with 33 observed variables (CN-3 observed variables; NL-5 observed variables; VH-5 observed variables; CS-8 observed variables; HTS-7 observation; CSN-5 observed variables) and 1 dependent variable has 5 observed variables (KNCDS).Specific sets of observations measured on a 5-point Likert (1-strongly disagree; 2-disagree; 3-Neutral; 4-agree; 5-strongly agree).
The sample size is determined by the formula of Yamane Taro (1967): Trong đó: x: Number of businesses identified in the survey N: Total number of businesses in Quang Binh province in 2021 e: Permissible error With N = 7105, the confidence of 95% and P = 0.5, the sample size with permissible error ± 5%, the study identified the sample to be investigated = 379 and the author determined the number of businesses surveyed was 500.
The number of surveyed businesses is allocated in percentage according to the Source: Research by the author in 2022.
The selection criteria in this study are the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient greater than or equal to 0.6 is acceptable.Cronbach's alpha calculations help analysts eliminate inappropriate variables and limit spam variables during research.
• Explore factor analysis (EFA): Use discovery factor analysis (EFA) to test the convergence of conceptual component variables.Variables with a single correlation coefficient between variables and factor loading less than 0.5 will be excluded; Use discovery factor analysis (CFA) to shrink and summarize data.Standards when analyzing factors discover coefficient Myer-Kaiser-Olkin (KMO) measure the adequacy of the sample and the significant meaning of accreditation Bartlett.KMO has an appropriate value within [0.5, 1].

Descriptive Statistics of the Study Sample
Descriptive statistics of the businesses survey results are shown in Table 1.
According to Table 1, the survey data is allocated to businesses across 8 administrative units in Quang Binh province, with the city of Dong Hoi having the highest number of surveyed businesses, 150 in total.The lowest number of surveyed businesses is in Minh Hoa district and Tuyen Hoa district, with each locality surveyed 35 businesses.In terms of the length of business operation, 131 businesses with a duration of 3 -<5 years were surveyed; 187According to Table 1, the number of survey questionnaires allocated to businesses in the 8 administrative units of Quang Binh province is shown.Among them, Dong Hoi city has the highest number of surveyed businesses with 150, while Minh Hoa district and Tuyen Hoa district have the lowest, with each locality surveying 35 businesses.In terms of business operation time, there were 131 surveyed businesses operating from 3 to less than 5 years, 187 surveyed businesses operating from 5 to 7 years, and 182 surveyed businesses operating for over 7 years.Distribution by type of business shows that 94% of businesses are limited liability companies (LLC), 0.67% are single-member LLCs, and 5.3% are joint stock companies (JSC).In terms of labor scale, the majority of businesses have less than 10 employees, followed by 11-50 employees.There were 184 businesses with fewer than 10 employees, accounting for 36.8%.There were 230 businesses with 11 -50 employees, accounting for 46%.There were 82 businesses with 51 -100 employees, accounting for 16.4%.There were 4 businesses with over 100 employees, accounting for 0.8%.In terms of capital scale, among the studied businesses, none had capital exceeding 50 billion.The businesses in Quang Binh province are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, so the main source of capital is below 3 billion or from 3 to 50 billion.Among them, the majority of businesses have capital less than 3 billion, with a total of 358 businesses, accounting for 71.6%.There were 142 businesses with capital from 3 to 50 billion, accounting for 28.4%.

Testing the Reliability of the Scale
The research model of factors affecting argument transfer of enterprises in Quang Binh province is determined to have 6 influencing factors with 33 observed variables; 1 dependent variable with 5 observed variables.The results of running the model with Cronbach's Alpha test of the scales on the independent variables show that out of 33 observed variables, there are 5 variables NL1, NL5, VH3, HTS2, MT8 with total correlation coefficient (Corrected Item -Total Correlation) is less than 0.3 (<0.3), so these variables are excluded.The scales all meet the requirements of reliability (0.6 < Cronbach's alpha < 0.95) and the total correlation coefficient (Corrected Item -Total Correlation) of the remaining observed variables is greater than 0.3 met the requirements and included in factor analysis.Thus, the results of Cronbach's alpha analysis of the scale of factors affecting the digital transformation ability of enterprises with 33 independent observed variables, after testing the reliability of Cronbach's Alpha, 5 variables were eliminated; the remaining 5 variables were removed.
Results of Cronbach's alpha reliability analysis of the scales are shown in Table 2: The CN factor scale has Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.689 and the corrected item-the total correlation coefficient of the 3 observed variables is greater than 0.3; the CS factor scale has Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.659 and the corrected item-The total correlation coefficient of the 7 observed variables is greater than 0.3; the NL factor scale has Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.646 and the corrected item-The total correlation coefficient of the 3 observed variables is greater than 0.3; the VH factor scale has Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.639 and the corrected item-The total correlation coefficient of the 4 observed variables is greater than 0.3; the HTS factor scale has Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.693 and the corrected item-The total correlation coefficient of the 6 observed variables is greater than 0.3; the CSN factor scale has Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.750 and the corrected item-The total correlation coefficient of the 6 observed variables is greater than 0.3.The 28 variables included in the EFA factor analysis are shown in Table 3.

Exploring Factors Analysis (EFA)
After removing 5 observed variables, 28 observed variables were included in the EFA analysis.EFA analysis results in extracted variance of 61.557%, % (>50%); sig 0.000 and KMO of 0.762 (>50%) should be satisfactory.Thus, with all the results obtained from Cronbach's alpha reliability and the above EFA exploratory factor analysis, the scale of research concepts is satisfactory in terms of value and reliability; 28 observed variables included in the analysis met the EFA analysis criteria (satisfactory), no variables were excluded at this stage.The detailed analysis results are presented in Table 4. Therefore, the research results provide an important basis for further research and development of theories on factors influencing the digital transformation capability of businesses.Based on the analysis results, to enhance and accelerate the digital transformation capability of businesses in Quang Binh province, it is necessary for businesses to ensure resources such as human resources, finance, information infrastructure, communication, market sensing and opportunity capturing; improve technological capacity through the adoption of new technologies such as AI, virtual reality, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), or develop technologies that are suitable for the business direction and operations; build a digital business culture that connects employees, changes the internal vision and operations of the company to align with the digital age, create associations dedicated to digital transformation and continuously encourage employees to enhance their "digital mindset" and learn new technologies; develop a strategy with a digital transformation vision, improve readiness for digital transformation, and ensure that business policies on digital transformation development are aligned with trends and regulations.Additionally, at the state level, the Quang Binh provincial government and relevant state agencies need to develop information technology infrastructure, expand internet access, improve the quality of public services, digitize and share data and information.At the same time, there should be strategies to create a legal and policy environment that is supportive, consistent, and favorable for digital transformation in businesses, as well as policies for telecommunications infrastructure development; and enhance cybersecurity environment.
district level, specifically: Quang Binh province has 8 administrative units at the district level, and the percentage allocation based on the number of businesses in each district and the total number of businesses in Quang Binh province.Based on that, the number of businesses allocated for investigation and survey is as follows: Dong Hoi City investigates 150 businesses; Ba Don town, Le Thuy district, and Bo Trach district each investigate 70 businesses; Quang Ninh district, Quang Trach district, Minh Hoa district, and Tuyen Hoa district each investigate 35 businesses.At each district, the study uses a random sampling method until the required number of businesses for investigation is reached.•Descriptivestatistical method: Using frequency tables to classify the sample according to classification variables.•Test the reliability of the scale: To test the reliability of the assumptions scale research, common methods used Cronbach's alpha coefficient.The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient shows the intrinsic consistency of the observed variables in the factor.The formula for Cronbach's alpha coefficient is: α

Table 1 .
Characteristics of surveyed businesses.

Table 2 .
Results of Cronbach's alpha reliability analysis of the scales.

Table 3 .
Results of Cronbach's alpha test of factors in the research model.

Table 4 .
The analysis results of the components affecting Digital transformation capability.