The Regulatory Effect of Firm Size on Digital Transformation: An Empirical Study of Pharmaceutical Companies in China

Digital transformation (DT) has been a key way for pharmaceutical companies to enhance innovation and R&D capabilities, improve product quality, reduce costs, and create competitive advantages. The external environment factors and the internal conditions' factors are the main factors affecting the DT of pharmaceutical companies. This research aimed to probe the effects of the external environment factors, the internal conditions' factors, firm size, and control variables on the DT of pharmaceutical companies based on synergetics. Purposive sampling and snowball sampling were used in this research. In addition, this research collected 395 valid data from Chinese pharmaceutical companies through online questionnaires. This research used quantitative analysis, and SPSS and Amos software were applied to data processing analysis. The results of structural equation modelling (SEM) and regression analysis showed that the external environment factors and the internal conditions' factors had a significantly positive correlation with the DT of pharmaceutical companies, and the effects of the internal conditions on the DT of pharmaceutical companies were greater than that of the external environment. In addition, firm size positively moderated the relationship between the external environment, internal conditions, and the DT of pharmaceutical companies. The results of this research not only can provide theoretical reference for scholars but also put forward implementation suggestions of DT for Chinese pharmaceutical company managers.