Technology Adoption and Digital Transformation in Nigerian Hotels: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

This study theorises and empirically examines technology adoption and digital transformation in Nigerian hotels through the lens of dynamic capabilities theory, contributing an original model of hospitality digital transformation readiness for emerging market hotel contexts. The digital transformation of hotels in advanced economies is well documented, but theoretically grounded analysis of the capability configurations enabling or impeding adoption in resource-constrained African hotel environments is absent from literature. A sequential mixed-method design is employed in two phases. Phase one involves 32 in-depth interviews with hotel general managers, technology officers, and digital marketing managers across Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano. Phase two involves a quantitative survey of 410 hotel managers across all six geopolitical zones testing a structural model derived from phase one themes. Dynamic capabilities constructs assessed include sensing capabilities for technology opportunity identification, seizing capabilities for technology integration, and reconfiguring capabilities for legacy process transformation. Findings reveal that sensing capability is the highest-developed dynamic capability among Nigerian hotel managers, while reconfiguring capability is the most significant bottleneck to successful digital transformation. Infrastructure constraints, particularly power supply instability and internet bandwidth limitations, act as external moderators that significantly attenuate the relationship between seizing capability and transformation outcomes. The study contributes a Nigerian Hospitality Digital Transformation Model with validated measurement scales and identifies a capability development pathway for hotel organisations at different digitalisation stages. Keywords: digital transformation, dynamic capabilities, hotel technology, Nigeria, emerging markets