Investigating the impact of new technologies and organizational practices on operational performance: evidence from Spanish manufacturing companies

The purpose of this paper is to analyse if and to what extent the relation between implementing new technologies and organizational practices has a direct moderating effect on operational performance. Regression analysis technique was performed using data corresponding to the Spanish sub-sample of the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) 2015 edition containing the responses of 101 manufacturing firms. The results present a positive relation between implementing organizational practices and operational performance. Implementing technologies individually has a negative effect on firm performance, but when this is mediated with organizational practices the effect becomes positive. The present study also brings implications in the direction of separate and joint effect of the impact of digitalisation and organisational practices on operational performance. The value of this research lies in its contributing novel, original data about the importance of applying flexibility enhancing technologies and organizational concepts.