Researcher Mahmoud Saeed, a student in the Master’s program in Applied Islamic Finance, defended his thesis titled: “The Impact of Digital Transformation on Competitive Advantage - A Case Study of Islamic Banks in Palestine.”
The study aimed to identify the impact of digital transformation on competitive advantage, “a case study of Islamic banks in Palestine”. The researcher used a descriptive analytical method as an approach to the study, and developed a questionnaire consisting of 46 items distributed over two main areas. The questionnaire was distributed to a sample size of (301) male and female employees selected following a systematic random sampling method.
The study revealed that there is an impact of digital transformation in the two dimensions (digital strategy, digital maturity) on the competitive advantage of the two dimensions (cost and quality), and there is a significant impact of digital transformation for the (digital maturity) dimension on the competitive advantage of the (internal operations efficiency) dimension. The study also showed that there is no effect for digital transformation in the dimension (digital technology) on the competitive advantage of the two dimensions (quality and cost). Furthermore, there is no effect for digital transformation in the two dimensions (digital technology and digital strategy) on the competitive advantage in the dimension (efficiency of internal operations).
In light of the study results, the researcher proposed a number of recommendations. The most important of these recommendations is one to the managements of Islamic banks on the necessity of investing heavily in the digital transformation program with the vision of becoming digitally mature banks. The researcher also recommended that the senior management of Islamic banks, in light of global competitiveness and the trend towards transformation, follow the transformation approach. It must make the most of the opportunities and advantages offered by digitization to Islamic banking, with the need to include employees of Islamic banks in developmental courses to raise their efficiency, and urge the Palestine Monetary Authority to work to support the process of digital transformation in banks, placing it as a priority and providing the capabilities to ensure its success.
The thesis was supervised by Dr. Hamza Ismail. Dr. Mohammad Abusharbeh was the internal examiner and Dr. Mufid Al Zaher was the external examiner.