Strategic Orientation and Firm Performance of Construction Enterprises in Guangdong Province: The Moderating Effect of Digital Technology Adoption

This study examines how digital technology adoption moderates the relationship between strategic orientation and economic performance in construction enterprises. Drawing on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theories, we surveyed 193 construction firms in Guangdong Province, China, to investigate the economic effects of market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and technology orientation on performance, with digital technology adoption as a boundary condition. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), our findings reveal differential impacts of strategic orientations on performance. Technology orientation emerges as the strongest predictor of economic performance (β = 0.246, p < 0.01), followed by market orientation (β = 0.187, p < 0.05), while entrepreneurial orientation shows no significant direct effect. Critically, digital technology adoption significantly moderates both the market orientation–performance (β = 0.134, p < 0.05) and technology orientation–performance (β = 0.198, p < 0.01) relationships, amplifying their economic value creation under conditions of high digital adoption. The model explains 38.4% of performance variance, with simple slope analysis revealing that strategic orientations generate substantial performance benefits only when supported by adequate digital infrastructure. These findings challenge the universal applicability of entrepreneurial frameworks in traditional industries and suggest that digital transformation fundamentally reconceptualizes which strategic orientations remain economically viable in increasingly digitized business environments.