The Determinants of Digital Investment Decision-Making by Moroccan Companies: Is It Rational or a Fad?

Considered the 4th industrial revolution, digital transformation (DT) still comes up against a basic incomprehension: the decision to invest in digital has never been justified by clear economic criteria and tangible managerial arguments. In this sense, this decision-making has always been legitimized either by a rational paradigm not yet demonstrable and yet to be confirmed, or by a behavioral paradigm manifested by adherence to a trend. This article aims to clarify the investors’ motivations in digital decision-making. Our work refers to the paradigms of rationality and behaviorism as key to explaining the decision-making process. The contribution of this work consists of exploring these two motivations for digital investment from an organizational point of view based on a survey of 312 companies and 74 interviews. The results obtained highlight that the Moroccan companies targeted by this study are not mature enough in their digital transformation. The explanatory factors of their digital investment are dominated by monitoring trends, improving processes and products, reducing costs, transforming the business model, and above all ensuring the sustainability of the organization. Thus, Moroccan companies are in a hybrid paradigm that seeks to justify investment in digital as a combination of managerial rationality and social tendency.