The role of strategic management accounting in digital capabilities and competitive advantage in the tourism industry

Abstract

This research investigates the extent to which the essential aspects of digital capabilities like Big Data Analytics (BDA), Digital Competence (DCT), and Quality of Information Technology (QIT) influence Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) and Competitive Advantage (CA) in Vietnamese tourism businesses. Data were gathered from 474 tourism businesses in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate, the three elements of digital capability have significant positive impacts on both SMA and CA, while SMA itself exerts a strong positive impact on CA. Furthermore, DCT serves as the strongest determinant of SMA. Additionally, mediating analyses indicate, SMA mediates the relationships between digital capabilities and CA, suggesting digital capabilities are a greater source of competitive returns when they are integrated into SMA. The results underline SMA as an important process for turning digital capability into better performance. This research contributes to the current literature by integrating digital capabilities and SMA in an investigation of the tourism industry. It presents a capability-to-advantage chain from BDA/DCT/QIT → SMA → CA. In practical terms, the results suggest that Vietnamese tourism businesses should invest in BDA, DCT, and IT infrastructure and institutionalize SMA routines to sustain CA in an increasingly digitized era