An Empirical Assessment of the Current Situation of Digital Economy Competencies in the Sarawak Manufacturing Sector
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/hva9qn17Keywords:
Digital Economy, Digital Economy Competencies, Digital Skills, Manufacturing Company, Sarawak ManufacturingAbstract
Digital transformation has become a central agenda for manufacturing firms seeking to improve productivity, competitiveness, and long-term sustainability. However, evidence from practice and research shows that digital investments often produce uneven or disappointing performance outcomes, particularly in regional and emerging industrial contexts. This suggests that the challenge of digital transformation is not purely technological, but organisational and human in nature. This paper investigates the current baseline situation of digital economy competencies within the Sarawak manufacturing sector, addressing a critical gap in context-sensitive research. Utilising a quantitative research design with a structured survey instrument, data were collected from $385$ industrial respondents across Sarawak’s manufacturing clusters. The empirical findings analysed through the Sarawak Digital Economy Competency (SarDEC) framework reveal a highly stratified digital readiness profile. While foundational human-centric competencies like digital literacy and digital communication are robust and evenly distributed across the hierarchy, higher-order strategic capabilities, specifically digital governance, digital content creation, and advanced infrastructure utilisation, remain underdeveloped. This suggests a state of partial digital readiness, in which manufacturing firms are digitally active but not yet digitally innovative. The paper concludes with targeted socio-technical recommendations to align human capability with regional digital blueprints.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Zainal Abiddin Morshidi, Norhayati Hussin, Masitah Ahmad
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