Chasing the rainbow: towards an experimental methodological framework for the assessment of digitalisation at the firm level

This paper proposes a methodological framework for assessing the adoption of digital technologies by industrial firms. Given the increasing economic importance of digital technologies, proper assessment methods are required. However, evaluating digital adoption can be quite challenging due to the pervasiveness, intangibility, and fast progress rate of such technologies. The proposed framework is designed to enable three tasks: (i) registering information about current and prospective adoption of digital technologies by industrial firms, (ii) developing indicators to capture the dynamics of digital adoption in time; and (iii) analysing digitalisation determinants, requirements, and outcomes. This paper contributes to building a reference framework to evaluating how digital technologies can strengthen the industrial development of nations, particularly developing countries.