Accelerating Performance in the Digital Age: Digital Capabilities, Marketing Agility, and Business Results in Colombian Firms.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15588486Keywords:
Digital Capabilities, Marketing Agility, Firm Performance, Digital Transformation, Digital Marketing, Colombia, PLS-SEMAbstract
Digital transformation poses significant challenges for contemporary marketing. However, empirical evidence is scarce regarding how firms in emerging economies like Colombia capitalize on digital capabilities to enhance performance. This study analyzes the relationship between specific digital marketing capabilities, marketing agility, and firm performance (both marketing-specific and overall) within the Colombian context. A quantitative approach was employed using surveys administered to 350 Colombian firms, with data analyzed via Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results reveal that digital capabilities have a positive and significant impact on marketing agility. In turn, marketing agility positively influences both marketing performance and overall firm performance. Crucially, marketing agility was found to act as a fundamental mediator, transmitting the effect of digital capabilities onto both types of performance. While a direct effect of capabilities on marketing performance was observed, their direct impact on overall firm performance was not significant, highlighting the importance of the agility-mediated pathway. This analysis provides relevant empirical evidence for Colombia, extending theories on capabilities and agility, and offering practical implications for strategic management and policies supporting digitalization.
Downloads
References
Cham, T., Cheah, J., Memon, M., Fam, K., & László, J. (2022). Digitalization and its impact on contemporary marketing strategies and practices. Journal of Marketing Analytics, 10(2), 103-105. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-022-00167-6
Chuang, S. (2020). Co-creating social media agility to build strong customer-firm relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 84, 202-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.034
Dutt, A., Kasilingam, D., Angell, R., & Singh, J. (2024). The future of marketing and communications in a digital era: data, analytics and narratives. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 32(8), 1435-1443. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2024.2386002
Dwivedi, Y., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., & Wang, Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, 102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168
Eckstein, G., Shrestha, A., Sassenberg, A., & Dwivedi, Y. (2023). Marketing agility in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts: a systematic literature review and future research agenda. Management Review Quarterly, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-023-00382-0
Haverila, M., Haverila, K., & McLaughlin, C. (2025). The impact of perceived knowledge on marketing agility in the context of big data: role of deployment level. European Journal of Management Studies, 30(1), 3-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejms-06-2024-0059
Homburg, C., & Wielgos, D. (2022). The value relevance of digital marketing capabilities to firm performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50(4), 666-688. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00858-7
Jung, S., & Shegai, V. (2023). The impact of digital marketing innovation on firm performance: Mediation by marketing capability and moderation by firm size. Sustainability, 15(7), 5711. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075711
Kalaignanam, K., Tuli, K., Kushwaha, T., Lee, L., & Gal, D. (2021). Marketing agility: The concept, antecedents, and a research agenda. Journal of Marketing, 85(1), 35-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242920952760
Laila, N., Sucia, P., Saini, W., Nur, L., & Rahmawati, I. (2024). An in-depth analysis of digital marketing trends and prospects in small and medium-sized enterprises: utilizing bibliometric mapping. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1), 2336565. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2336565
Masrianto, A., Hartoyo, H., Hubeis, A. V. S., & Hasanah, N. (2022). Digital marketing utilization index for evaluating and improving company digital marketing capability. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 8(3), 153. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc8030153
Moi, L., & Cabiddu, F. (2021). Leading digital transformation through an agile marketing capability: The case of Spotahome. Journal of Management and Governance, 25, 1145–1177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-020-09534-w
Nurcholis, L. (2020). The mediating effect of agility at relationship between market orientation and marketing performance. Jurnal Manajemen dan Pemasaran Jasa, 13(1), 65-78. https://www.e-journal.trisakti.ac.id/index.php/jasa/article/view/5835
Sarstedt, M., Hair, J., Pick, M., Liengaard, B., Radomir, L., & Ringle, C. (2023). Improving PLS-SEM use for business marketing research. Industrial Marketing Management, 111, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.01.004
Sarstedt, M., & Liu, Y. (2024). Advanced marketing analytics using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Journal of Marketing Analytics, 12(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-023-00279-7
Tarazona, R., Devece, C., Llopis, C., & García, S. (2024). Effectiveness of digital marketing and its value in new ventures. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 20(4), 2839-2862. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-024-00959-5
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors exclusively transfer the right to publish their article to our journal, which may formally edit or modify the approved text to comply with its own editorial norms and universal grammatical standards, before publication; Likewise, our journal may translate approved manuscripts into as many languages as it deems necessary and disseminate them in several countries, always giving public recognition to the author or authors of the research.
