Influence of Finance Transformation, Corporate Governance, and Strategic Financial Planning on Organizational Agility: Evidence from the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of finance transformation, corporate governance, and strategic financial planning on organizational agility within the context of the United Arab Emirates’ rapidly evolving digital economy. The research emphasizes how financial leaders drive value creation and operational responsiveness by integrating digital technologies, risk management systems, and strategic foresight into financial decision-making. Quantitative research design was adopted through the use of a structured questionnaire that was dispersed and sent to 320 finance and strategy experts in the technology, energy and service industries in system of firms with digital transformation programs Digital DEWA and IBM Middle East among others. The hypothesized relationships between the constructs were tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results show that the transformation of finance by means of ERP integration, automation, and data analytics has a significant impact on the financial visibility and speed of decisions. The agility is influenced negatively by whatever the corporate governance practices is, particularly risk control and regulatory adherence leading to transparency and accountability. The adaptive capacity also is improved by means of strategic financial planning in aligning business objectives and circumstances of measuring business performance.