Uneven digital frontiers: Adoption of digital technologies across finance, retail and manufacturing sectors in South Africa

Background: Digitalisation could stimulate economic growth and contribute to national development. Empirically identifying sectoral similarities and disparities in digital adoption and types of technologies used in South Africa could provide a blueprint for sector-tailored digital adoption in South Africa. Objectives: This study examines the extent of digital technology adoption across three sectors in South Africa, namely finance, retail and manufacturing. Method: A qualitative research approach was employed, using semi-structured interviews to collect data from 45 human resource professionals, operational managers and employees from the three identified sectors. Purposive, convenience and snowball sampling methods were used. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Two major themes emerged: (1) varied levels of digital technologies adoption and (2) commonly used types of digital technologies. The manufacturing sector is perceived as lagging in terms of digital adoption, with the retail sector being perceived as a moderate adopter of digital adoption. In contrast, the finance sector is perceived as a strong adopter of digital technologies. Conclusion: The study offers managerial implications. Leaders and policymakers are urged to prioritise the adoption of digital strategies, foster private–public partnerships for digitalisation and empower employees with digital competencies. The government needs to ensure that infrastructure and sectoral incentives promote digitalisation for the benefit of national development. Contribution: These results contributed to theory-building around sectoral digital adoption in emerging contexts and could be used as the foundation for the development of targeted interventions to address the uneven pace of technological adoption and to close this gap across South African sectors.