The Nexus of Big Data Analytics Capability, Digital Innovation, and Digital Transformation to Nurture Internationalization Among Unicorns

Drawing on the latest extension of the Uppsala process model, this study examines how unicorn companies can utilize big data analytics capabilities for rapid internationalization through the digital transformation and digital innovation process. Data were collected using a German-translated survey, which employed a snowball sampling approach. Three procedures were employed to ensure the quality, precision, and suitability of the terminology during the development and translation of the questionnaire, thereby guaranteeing content validity. The list of unicorn SMEs was compiled for start-up businesses valued at over $1 billion. The Smart Partial Least Squares (PLS) 4.1.1.5 software, used for structural equation modeling (SEM), was employed for measurement model development and hypothesis testing. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22 software was used for descriptive and correlation analysis, as well as to analyze the artificial neural network (ANN) dataset. The study found a significant positive relationship between Big Data Analytics Capability (BDAC) and Digital Transformation (DT), as well as between DT and Digital Innovation (DI). A unique serial mediation pathway is proposed, leading to unicorns' rapid internationalization, where DT and DI serially mediate between BDAC and the scope of internationalization. This study also confirmed that knowledge stock moderates and strengthens the impact of BDAC on DT. Regarding ANN, we have unique findings and have compared them with SEM.