The Impact of Digital Transformation on Environmental Sustainability and Internationalization Strategy

This research aims to analyse the perception of Portuguese manufacturing companies about the impact of digital transformation (DT) on environmental sustainability, internationalization strategy and performance. To meet this purpose, a questionnaire that targeted Portuguese manufacturing firms based in the North of Portugal was developed. A total of 12,769 enterprises were contacted, 310 responses were collected, and 296 responses were analysed. A Factor Analysis (FA) was employed to assess the multi-item questionnaire’s construct validity, adequacy, consistency, and reliability. The hypotheses were assessed through the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with a diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) estimator. Findings reveal that participants comprehend that DT has a favourable impact on environmental sustainability, internationalization, and performance, corroborating the information discussed in the literature. Additionally, results revealed that DT positive impact is more significant on enterprise performance, followed by internationalization strategy and environmental sustainability.