Research On The Influence Of Performance Expectation Gap On Enterprise Digital Transformation

In the era of digital economy,self-renewal through digital transformation is of great significance for enterprises to obtain sustainable competitive advantages.The existing researches are devoted to analyzing the influence of digital transformation on the behavior results of enterprises,but the researches on the driving factors of enterprise digital transformation are relatively insufficient.Performance feedback is an important reference for decision makers to make innovation changes.As a key strategic change behavior for enterprises to get rid of operating difficulties and grasp development opportunities,digital transformation is inevitably affected by the gap in performance expectations.Most of the existing researches take a single expected goal as the strategic reference point and past experience as the reference for decision-making.They focus on the influence of retrospective performance expectation gap on strategic decision-making and ignore the significance of forward-looking expectations on strategic reform.With the increasingly fierce competition in the market,the uncertainty of the external environment intensifies the self-awareness pressure of enterprises,so that enterprises cannot rely solely on past experience to determine future strategic decisions.Enterprises should not only focus on the present,but also face the future.Corporate behavior decision is a combination of "backward looking" and "forward looking" thinking mode.Its strategic choice not only relies on past experience and organizational practices,but also is influenced by prospect insight and trend prediction.Backward decision making based on current situation evaluation and forward decision making based on prospect cognition are two complementary decision making models.The "backward" and "forward" feedback mechanisms should be considered comprehensively in the research of performance feedback and strategic decision making.Therefore,the research on the impact of performance expectation gap with different time reference on enterprises’ digital transformation can help enterprises understand the motivation and timing of their digital transformation more objectively and rationally,and improve the scientific nature of strategic decision-making.Taking A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2021 as a research sample,this paper examines the impact of backward-looking and forward-looking performance expectation gaps on enterprise digital transformation,and further discusses the joint effect of performance expectation gaps based on different dimensions on enterprise digital transformation.The results show that: first,the backward-looking performance expectation gap has a positive impact on the digital transformation of enterprises,and the backwardlooking performance expectation surplus has a negative impact on the digital transformation of enterprises.That is,when enterprises are in business difficulties,they conduct problemdriven organizational search,tend to seek risks,and are motivated to implement digital transformation strategies.However,when the performance is good,enterprises are satisfied with the current operating state,and the motivation to carry out digital transformation is weakened.Second,the forward-looking performance expectation surplus has a positive impact on the digital transformation of enterprises.Good expectations for the future will drive organizations to search for opportunities,which can strengthen the motivation of enterprises to implement digital transformation strategies.Third,forward-looking performance expectation surplus can strengthen the positive impact of backward-looking performance expectation gap on enterprise digital transformation,while forward-looking performance expectation gap can weaken the positive impact of backward-looking performance expectation gap on enterprise digital transformation.That is,positive forwardlooking prospects will strengthen enterprises’ strategic reform motivation of "poverty makes progress" and further promote enterprises to carry out digital transformation.In the face of negative forward-looking prospects,the driving effect of operating expectation gap on enterprise digital transformation will be weakened.Based on the theory of firm behavior and from the perspective of performance feedback,this study analyzes the motivation of enterprise digital transformation decision-making,studies the relationship between the gap between backward and forward-looking performance expectations and enterprise digital transformation,and further discusses the joint effect of the two on enterprise digital transformation.This study further clarifies the internal mechanism of performance expectation gap affecting the digital transformation of enterprises with different time references,and enriches the theoretical exploration in related fields.It can provide more perfect decision reference for enterprises’ strategic choice,avoid managers’ decision bias caused by only focusing on single performance feedback,and help to guide enterprises to achieve digital transformation.