Journal of Innovations in Digital Marketing

Smart Specialization and demand-driven innovation

Regarding the key drivers of digital transformation, Smart Specialization and demand-driven innovation included three questions, namely:

Q1. Adopting the Digital Economy Framework in Jordan’s economy by launching a Digital Economy Catapult and Launchpads in sectors and verticals.

Q2. Creating globally relevant, high-value digital applications, solutions, and IP by supporting in-licensing and the reuse of IPs.

Q3. Driving global partnerships and bridges with international digital hubs through a network of international innovation centers in key markets.

Figure 1 shows the results of analysing the sample responses to the first three questions. According to the first question, the analysis indicates that the Jordanian government transformation has not succeeded enough in adopting the framework that launching the catapult and launching-pad in the digital economy sectors and verticals. The experts in the technology sector have answered this question, nearly 6.7% of the respondents believe that not succeed, while remarkable is promising as 62.2% of experts exhibited sound and fairly successful, plus 11.1% indicated a good attempt for this measure. 8.9% believed that the vision succeeded in adopting the general framework through which digital economy platforms can launch excellently. These answers express the opinion of experts in the technology sector.

Question 2 reports the ability of the Jordanian digital economy to create high-value and globally relevant applications and solutions by supporting licensing and reuse of intellectual property. The researcher examined the perspectives of experts in the technology sector and those interested in property rights, licensing, and reuse of property rights. Approximately, 4% of the experts think that Jordan did not take a real step towards creating applications of local or global value, and has not utilized licensing or employing intellectual property reuse rights. That assumes Jordan's experience in this is fair to a remarkable extent since 53.3% of the sample confirmed this, moreover others indicated that Jordan was able to succeed in establishing digital applications and solutions in a good to excellent ratio, perceiving that their percentage does not exceed 22% of the total sample.

The third question examines the attitudes towards building global bridges through innovation centres, " Driving global partnerships and bridges with international digital hubs through a network of international innovation centres in key markets". The experts' answers varied as 2% indicated that the government had succeeded in leading global partnerships and bridges with international digital centres through a network of international innovation centres in over markets. While 15.6% believe that it achieved a good, about 55.6% believe that the leadership of global partnerships and bridges with international digital centres is somewhat fair. Finally, 22% believe that the digital economy has not succeeded in establishing those partnerships. The results of the first drivers figured below (See Figure.1).

Public Sector Innovation

The second key driver for digital transformation is Public Sector Innovation. The researcher chose to scale the innovation of the public sector through the following question:

Q4. Transforming government and public sector to be “digital by default” by 2020 by developing open data policy.

Q5. Changing models of implementation based on Public-Private Partnerships

Q6. Leading and accelerating digital innovation across government

Sample responses about the public sector innovation (Q4, Q5, Q6) are shown in Figure 2. Throughout 27% of experts believe that the government efforts remain fair to good in transforming the public sector into a virtual digital. The government has not taken inevitable measures in developing open data policies, which are the essential component of digital transformation. (See Figure.2). Moreover, the government did not improve implementation models to meet the partnership needs with the private sector, which does not qualify it to lead digital development and innovation across government sectors. The result in Figure 2 shows the statistics regarding the question " Changing models of implementation based on Public-Private Partnerships". Driving and accelerating digital innovation across government seems a bit underwhelming, as 30% believe it is below average in embedding digital innovation across government.

Tech Start-ups and Entrepreneurs

According to the third key drivers of digital transformation, Tech Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs, this driver included three questions, namely:

Q7. Boosting digital economy start-ups in Jordan and special zones, by increasing incubation, acceleration & support capacity

Q8. Making Jordan the regional hub for makers by giving all makers access to the innovation infrastructure/ecosystem

Q9. Enabling a culture of digital entrepreneurship & intrapreneurship across Jordan by launching a national campaign

The results in Figure 3 revealed that the government's measures to promote technology start-ups and entrepreneurs were fair to poor in most of the expert responses. Only 33% of the experts believe that the government succeeded in promoting the emerging digital economy in distinct regions by increasing the incubation, acceleration, and support capacity. On the other hand, the experts' evaluation of Jordan's position as a regional hub for businesses by giving all manufacturers access to the innovation infrastructure/ecosystem did not exceed 28% of all experts in the same field. Finally, 42% of the experts believe that Jordan can build and enable a digital entrepreneurship culture and internal entrepreneurship throughout Jordan by launching a national campaign.

ICT Skills, Capacity, and Talent

the fourth key drivers of digital transformation is ICT Skills, Capacity, and Talent, this driver included three questions, namely:

Q10. Implementing 21st-century skills to support the digital economy by linking digital economy skills needs to the nation-wide overhaul of the education system

Q11. Creating a world-class talent pool to support drive the digital economy demand locally and globally by supporting training & qualifications and enabling and open labor

Q12. Creating models and tools for better women participation in the digital economy in workplaces and as active users

The results in Figure 4 confirm that Jordan has been reasonably successful in providing ICT skills, capabilities, and talent. Jordan is moving towards including the skills of the twenty-first century by focusing on education in technical fields in addition to encouraging training in those areas. Comprehensive reform to engage in the digital economy needs to transform the educational system. The results indicated that 46% of the experts believe that the government has made efficient steps to reform the educational system. On the other hand, 62% percent believe that Jordan has managed, through changes in the educational system, to create a talent pool that drives the demand for the digital economy. Jordan encouraged training to increase qualifications and take practical steps to empower open employment.

Finally, note that 31% of the experts believe that the Jordanian government was able to transform government models through which the participation of Jordanian women in the digital economy increased, as the government supported the inclusion of women in the labor market, especially in digital fields, and women became active members.

Enabling Business Environment

The fifth key drivers of digital transformation are Enabling Business Environment included three questions, namely:

Q13. Creating an open, stable, and enabling business environment for the digital economy by streamlining and revising processes, legislation, and regulations.

Q14. Building a high-performance and attractive investment environment with an emphasis on the availability of scaling and growth capital and FDI

Q15. Becoming an early adopter country and regional beta-tester for key emerging technologies by supporting experimentation

Figure 5 shows the answer to the questions Q13, Q14, Q15. In terms of enabling the business environment, the Jordanian government has also taken decisive steps in reviewing the processes, legislation, and regulations that would create an open, stable, and enabling business environment for the digital economy. Approximately 38% believe it has managed to do so, and about 20% believe it has succeeded. Also, these legislations can build a high-performance investment environment in the digital field, where more than 53% of experts believe that the Jordanian government has taken positive steps to facilitate the provision of capital and obtain foreign investment. It also remarked that the percentage is close in the early adoption of technical and scientific experiments in this field (see Figure 5).

Smart digital economy infrastructure

Figure 6 represents the response analysis for the sixth key drivers of digital transformation namely Smart digital economy infrastructure which included three questions:

Q16. Establishing a state-of-the-art secure digital infrastructure by developing information and cybersecurity practices and regulations, revising spectrum pricing and investing in the national broadband infrastructure, and laying the path for 5G

Q17. Revising spectrum pricing and investing in the national broadband infrastructure and laying the path for 5G

Q18. Leading nationwide focus on data-driven transformation by developing regional standards and secure operational models for open data.

Around 50% of experts in the field believe that successive governments in Jordan have provided the requirements for preparing infrastructure to accommodate the smart digital economy. By developing regulations related to information and sharing and laws to protection and cybersecurity, and reviewing the pricing mechanisms for national broadband infrastructure, which facilitates and paves the way for adopting 5G technologies. Jordan has adopted regional and international standards in its governmental practices related to reporting and relying entirely on data (See Figure 6).

Governance

The final key drivers of digital transformation are governance and included three questions, namely:

Q19. Establishing co-owned leadership and ownership by implementing a strong but agile governance structure to ensure accountability.

Q20. Reforming the regulatory system to support the integrated digital economy by launching a review process of the existing regulators and shifting towards a more dynamic ex-post system focusing on enabling a competitive market.

Q21. Exercising strong program accountability and progress monitoring by establishing a systematic but dynamic program monitoring and evaluation system.

Results in figure 7 represents the results of response about the digital transformation in Jordan which derived from the top leadership in moving towards adopting appropriate legislation, laws, and infrastructure for reaching the digital economy in the year 2025. Nearly 50% of the experts believe that Jordan has managed to build and implement a governance structure that ensures accountability. The government exercises relevant measures to attain an integrated framework for the digital economy by focusing on a comprehensive review of the regulatory bodies and delivering the necessary dynamism to enrol in a competitive market. Finally, the organizational reformation has focused on establishing a systematic and dynamic arrangement to facilitate the evaluation of the results that have been achieved and focus on aspects of failure in the implementation of plans, and suggest an improvement (See figure 7).

Digital transformation impact

Individuals, sectors, and companies are the engines of digital transformation. This section explores the aspirations towards the digital transformation vision to enable individuals, sectors, and companies, increase productivity and encourage investment. In Figure 8, Experts' answers varied as nearly 49% agreeing that digital transformation can create an economy capable of enabling individuals to encompass digital transformation. Also, 57% of them believe that this vision can enable sectors and companies. Approximately 60% of experts remain confident about the capacity of this vision to create a digital economy and contribute to productivity for individuals or sectors and companies. Finally, the significant aspect of the digital transformation vision is encouraging investment, as 58% of experts believe that this vision will encourage investment. Encouraging investment in the digital economy is a vital outcome for driving digital transformation and engaging individuals, sectors, and companies in digital transformation because it opens many opportunities for individuals to develop their skills and technical capabilities and make the best use of available resources (See Figure 8).

Finally, the results of the descriptive analysis for responses confirm that there is satisfaction with government measures in a digital transformation action plan. However, these measures should be strengthened to reach the goals of digital transformation. The analysis of demographic variables was not covered in this research because the field of study is different, and that is one of the determinants that the researcher hopes to address in future and empirical research.

Discussion

This study investigated trends in the aspirations of stakeholders towards digital transformation in Jordan by 2025 to develop a robust framework for measuring its impact on individuals, sectors, and companies, impact on productivity, and impact on investment. Seven factors included in the digital transformation plan studied and used to develop the framework; Digital transformation in Jordan focuses on supporting demand-driven innovation across main sectors and as ecosystems in collaboration with the ICT sector, start-ups, and educational institutions.

The digital transformation plan includes building world-class talent; It focused on skills and capabilities related to the digital economy and collaboration between the information technology sector and other sectors that stimulate digitalization (Accenture, 2017; Broekhuizen, Bakker, & Postma, 2018; Verhoef & Bijmolt, 2019). The government must provide a work environment and build dynamic ecosystems. It must be open to new technologies, direct the transformation of government models, and lead the development of content and solutions that cater to local and international culture as indicated by Zhu, Dong, Xu, and Kraemer (2006); Lamberton and Stephen (2016); and Accenture (2017). Finally, the role start-ups play in supporting digital transformation by revolutionizing the adoption of new technologies cannot be ignored (Broekhuizen et al., 2018; Christensen, Bartman, & Bever, 2016; Dong & Yang, 2020).

There is no doubt that the Jordanian government's vision focuses on four areas that create a digital economy capable of empowering individuals, sectors, and companies to improve productivity and encourage investment. The expert indicated that digital transformation vision can achieve the required empowerment, as more than 50% of the respondents support this claim. Referring to the digital transformation plan, most experts demonstrate critical gaps that must address. For instance, the results showed that the government did not take actual steps towards building a general framework for the digital economy, either at the official government level or in the sectors. This framework helps create high-value digital applications and solutions and establishes partnerships with digital centers and international innovation centers.

They indicated that an innovative government should encourage change in the public sector and accelerating digital innovation through government institutions. The results revealed poor innovative government; The government should establish general frameworks to drive innovation and focus more on developing open data policy and changing its models to be meet participation requirements with the private sector. The private sector is considered a pioneer in developing and using Open- data to achieve digital leadership (Eggers & Park, 2018; Gensler, Neslin, & Verhoef, 2017).

Emerging technology and entrepreneurship reflect public sector innovation. The researchers also note that government policies have not contributed to strengthening the emerging digital economy in Jordan and the regions, as the government did not contribute to incubation, acceleration, and support services. Also, up to the present time, researchers find that a small percentage of experts believe that Jordan has succeeded in making Jordan a regional center for makers, as it has not succeeded in providing the infrastructure for innovation and providing ecosystems. Nor has it promoted a culture of innovation, digital entrepreneurship, or internal entrepreneurship by launching national programs to promoting innovation culture (Kübler, Wieringa, & Pauwels, 2017; Pagani & Pardo, 2017).

On the other hand, stakeholders pointed out that Jordan has attained a satisfactory degree in providing skills and talents regarding ICT. Since Jordan was able to deliver the high capacity of the skills needed to support the digital economy, Jordan has taken vital measures towards a comprehensive reform of its education and student training systems and creating a regional pool of talent to drive the demand for the digital local and global economy by supporting open employment and women's participation.

Furthermore, the results also show that Jordan is in an in-between in creating and enabling a business environment that facilitates creating an open, stable, and enabling environment for the digital economy by simplifying and reviewing processes, legislations, and regulations. It pertains to a high-performing investment environment that is attractive to foreign direct investment. It is still striving to be a regional experimental laboratory for major emerging technologies, but it needs serious measures to achieve this.

Implication

Jordan needs to provide a secure infrastructure for a smart digital economy by developing legislation related to information and cybersecurity, investing in national infrastructure, flooring the way for 5G, data-driven transformation by developing regional and secure standards. According to Data models, Stakeholders indicated that government efforts are still weak and should focus on strengthening this area. Finally, stakeholders recognize that governance and the government's ability to build a robust structure are still under development, as digital transformation needs a strong, resilient, and agile arrangement to administer the required digital transformation. A strong governance structure ensures that the foundations devised to support and reform the governing and prevailed over the foundations for accountability, create a more dynamic future system, and create a competitive market (Lamberton et al., 2016; Venkatraman, 2017; Zhu et al., 2006). The strong governance structure also helps monitor progress, evaluating government programs and procedures through periodic review of achievements (Zhu et al., 2006).

Digital transformation is inevitable and must accelerate actions to keep speed with the rapid changes in the world. There are ever-evolving and innovative ways of doing things, as well as more opportunities to harness data and new ways to engage companies, individuals, and industries. The proposed general framework in Figure 9 revealed seven government measures adopted as independent variables, while the impact of digital transformation is the dependent variable. Several researchers supported this framework (e.g., (Svahn, Mathiassen, & Lindgren, 2017) (Zhu et al., 2006) (Venkatraman, 2017) (Zhu et al., 2006).

The vision for digital transformation is a dream for companies doing business, as digital innovations create opportunities faster every day. Firms in every sector need to benefit from technological advances not only to remain competitive but to survive (Broekhuizen et al., 2018; Dong et al., 2020; Kübler et al., 2017). Digital transformation is not a cakewalk, so the government must adopt bold and big ideas and promote a culture of digital transformation as technological progress is widely accepted and understood by all individuals, sectors, and companies, yet cultural changes are necessary to make digital transformations often overlooked (Eggers et al., 2018; Kübler et al., 2017). Lack of interest in culture results in 84% of organizations failing to achieve digital transformation. Therefore, the Jordanian government should seek to bring the required cultural change and provide insight into organizational structures, governance, operating models, and products and services (Christensen et al., 2016; Gensler et al., 2017; Pagani et al., 2017).

Finally, if Jordan achieves the vision of digital transformation 2025, it will create a competitive market and remove geographical barriers. Additionally, recruit effective employees, create a distinctive user experience, improve business strategy, improve global presence as a center for attracting talent, and increase the effectiveness of Government strategies and improving the value of the service provided (Broekhuizen et al., 2018; Christensen et al., 2016; Eggers et al., 2018; Gensler et al., 2017; Kübler et al., 2017; Pagani et al., 2017). However, to fully embrace digital transformation, the government should periodically review its digital strategy, capitalizing on new technology opportunities, and implement certain technologies (Broekhuizen et al., 2018; Gensler et al., 2017; Kübler et al., 2017).

Jordan should centre on future social and economic indicators, such as viability, happiness, sustainability, and resilience, in addition to the potential for social innovation. The growth strategy aims to capture the social and economic value that the digital economy can achieve. Among indicators that must perceive is the inclusiveness of migrants and refugees, and include all parts of the country instead of focusing on the capital Amman. The empowerment of women and the contribution of digital to the green economy are the most considering issues. And improve transparency and business processes for the government and the non-profit sector. These before-mentioned indicators attract much international attention (Innovation Jordan Committee , 2020), there is significant potential for Jordan to become a regional leader in demonstrating impact and solutions operating in the MENA region. The international literature indicates several social and economic indicators that may be taken into consideration in the future to track progress, which is the impact of information and communication technology on access to essential services, use of information and communication technologies, government efficiency, participation, women in ICT jobs, and the ability to decentralize innovation, and the impact on the green economy (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2013; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016).

Additional indicators that can help Jordan lead the digital economy and provide leadership in independent international standards are also available (Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, 2016) . The assessment should not focus on measuring economic, but also a specific social value. It also instill investor confidence and helps regarding Jordan as an attractive country for creating business. Jordan has delivered success stories in the effectiveness of law-making and the preparation of investment capital; On the other hand, Jordan needs to simplify government procedures while establishing a new business, introducing new technologies into education and curricula, and increasing the impact of information and communication technology on organizational models. These indicators include the political and regulatory environment, business and innovation environment, infrastructure, affordability, skills, individual mobile phone use, business use, government use, economic impacts, and social impact (Gerlach et al., 2020).

The results of this study may be considered a platform for policymakers in the Jordanian government. As there is no general framework for measuring government measures and their impact on individuals, sectors, and companies. These bodies are of the importance that calls for their participation in decision-making, and therefore their opinion and attitudes about the achieved achievement should be diagnosed. Also, knowing their opinion leads to systematic thinking about plans and the possibility of benefiting from developments in digitization. These results can be used to build plans and focus on the positive aspects of the field of digital transformation. The general framework proposed in this study can also be used for the periodic evaluation of the achieved achievement, where the focus is on the negatives and is addressed according to developments, meaning that the current results are considered as inputs for the years of implementation in the next years.

Implication for digital marketing

The growth in digital marketing advanced due to rapid improvements in technology and changing market dynamics. Accordingly, in the developed world, many companies have realized the importance of digital marketing (Harazneh et al., 2020; Mergel, Edelmann, & Haug, 2019). For companies to be successful, they must integrate traditional online methods to better meet customer needs. This indicates the need for a stronger application of digital marketing in markets where it has not been developed strongly. The introduction of new technologies due to digital transformation and entry into the era of digitization has created new job opportunities for marketers to use in achieving their business goals (Hess, Matt, Benlian, & Wiesböck, 2016).

Several researchers (Hess et al., 2016; Mergel et al., 2019) have indicated that one of the most prominent manifestations of digital transformation is the close link between it and digital marketing, as the concepts of digital transformation and digital marketing are intertwined through different ways of using information technology to develop service provision. Thus, it is changing organizational processes and organizational culture and influencing value creation.

The impact of modern technologies and successive developments on information exchange technology such as the Internet and creative technologies and their perceptions in the minds of workers in companies and limited by institutional arrangements and their general impact on organizations (Garzella, Fiorentino, Caputo, & Lardo, 2021; Manesh, Pellegrini, Marzi, & Dabic, 2021). The impact of digital transformation in digital marketing is related to organizational change, organizational culture, new ways in which society deals with information, and the contemporary requirements of government services.

The era of digitization has arisen as a result of the rapid development of information technology capabilities, which have affected every aspect of society. To exploit the great benefits of digital transformation requires a rapid adaptation in line with social and economic changes and poses additional challenges in how companies conduct their business in this way (Garzella et al., 2021). According to Caputo, Fiorentino, and Garzella (2019) and Manesh et al. (2021) , new business models are needed to produce and achieve a competitive advantage. The era of digitization represents a shift from tangible resources to intangible resources and calls for creativity, cooperation, and intellectual capital as a basis for creating a successful business model, so the original focus on internal resources has now shifted towards obtaining external resources through cooperation with many independent topics. Digital marketing is widely used to promote products or services and reach consumers through digital channels. In terms of conceptual definition, it can be said that digital marketing is the use of technologies when it comes to aiding marketing activities and improving customer knowledge by matching their needs (Adaileh, Alrawashdeh, Elrehail, & Aladayleh, 2020).

To keep pace with the era of digitization and digital transformation, external changes require the development of new management strategies that focus on formulating and developing collaborations with companies, indicating the importance of establishing and maintaining reliable relationships between multiple stakeholders. Thus, effective communication with stakeholders supports this competitive advantage, highlighting the importance of digital marketing and the benefits it provides.

Implication for future research

Finally, the study recommends directing future research towards the different sectors that make up the digital economy and assessing the impact of digital transformation dimensions on individuals and companies. Researchers also recommend addressing the transformation impact on key performance elements in the digital economy such as productivity, investment, competitiveness, and other performance indicators.

Given the exploratory nature of this study, the researcher used descriptive analysis of the data received from the experts. The researcher recommends testing the general framework empirically through quantitative data to identify the interrelationships between the dimensions of the general framework and provide more accurate recommendations.

This paper had several limitations that could be considered as future opportunities for managerial implication or even for future research. Due to the lack of studies that provided empirical solutions to measure the opinions of stakeholders, this exploratory study covers the lack of literature in the same field. The results of the study can be used in designing mechanisms for monitoring, control, and diagnosis of governmental policies and procedures. As a result, future researchers can use the items explored in conducting confirmatory studies, and they can use the proposed framework in conducting empirical studies to measure the impact of digital transformation on several performance indicators.

The researcher also suggests using the questions that were used in this study to develop a model to measure the impact of digital transformation and its impact on performance indicators or other performance indicators. Other exploratory studies may be conducted to explore new factors or to confirm existing factors through empirical and confirmatory studies.

This study was not able to include large sample size, as the sample obtained is considered small, but it can be considered appropriate for exploring the main items needed to measure the impact of digital transformation, knowing that most of the interviewed individuals are specialists and have greater insight. This limitation leads future researchers to include larger samples since to confirm the proposed framework, it is necessary to conduct an empirical study with the inclusion of a large sample.

To ensure the validity of the questions to measure attitudes, the paragraphs were presented to a group of academics in several universities. Also, it was presented to a group of practitioners and experts in the governmental and private sectors to ensure face and content validity. The questions were reformulated based on the recommendations, where some paragraphs were deleted, the current paragraphs were modified, other paragraphs were added, and the measurement model settled on 25 paragraphs to measure 8 dimensions. The study seeks to investigate the opinions of a group of experts to lay the appropriate ground for a theory that will be verified using an empirical study. The current study recommends conducting future studies to build a reliable and valid measurement model. As for reproducibility, the questions were used in this study to measure the dimensions and impact of digital transformation have been validated. Future studies can be conducted using these questions, where the dimensions of digital transformation can be considered as independent variables and the impact of digital transformation as a dependent variable. Validity and reliability can also be checked by performing a multivariate analysis to estimate the interrelationships between study variables.