The Impact of Fintech Innovation on Operational Efficiency: The Mediating Role of Organizational Agility in KSA Financial Institutions
-
https://doi.org/10.14419/tne5xd06
Received date: June 20, 2025
Accepted date: September 4, 2025
Published date: September 25, 2025
-
Technological Advancements; Digital Payment Systems; Financial Inclusion Tools; Operational Efficiency; Organizational Agility -
Abstract
The objective of the study is to consider the impact of fintech innovation on the operating efficiency of the financial institutions in the KSA, specifically, through the mediating role of organizational agility. The paper discusses the relations between fintech innovation and organizational agility and operational efficiency based on the filled questionnaires sent to both the managerial and operational teams across the various types of financial institutions in KSA. The theories that lay the principles of the Resource-Based View (RBV), as fintech is being seen as a technological resource, and the Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), as agility is seen as a capacity that companies can apply to restructure their resources, underpin the research. These results imply that operational efficiency has a considerable positive impact on fintech innovation, and this effect is partially mediated by organizational agility. In that way, the richest subjects tend to implement fintech innovations to optimize the operating efficiency and performance. It is emphasized that technology innovation and business agility, as the strategic enablers of sustainable effectiveness, are crucial to consider in the study. Practical Implications: KSA FIs should also invest in recent digital tools and technologies and develop and sustain agile organizational architecture and agility capacity. Second, regulators are recommended to establish more flexible systems to facilitate organizational agility and resilience in the financial sector in the face of continuous digital transformation.
-
References
- Abedalrhman, K., & Alzaydi, A. (2024). Saudi Arabia's strategic leap towards a diversified economy and technological innovation. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5048258.
- Abu-AlSondos, I. A., Alkhwaldi, A. F., Shehadeh, M., Ali, B. J., & Al Nasar, M. R. (2023). The role of Industry 4.0 technologies in enabling knowledge management practices: United Arab Emirates perspective. The International Conference on Global Economic Revolutions. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50518-8_12.
- Abu-AlSondos, I. A., Alsmadi, A. A., Al-Daoud, K. I., & Aldulaimi, S. H. (2024). Exploring the impact of decision models on FinTech adoption: An empirical study. 2024 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Applications (DASA). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/DASA63652.2024.10836306.
- Al-Baity, H. H. (2023). The artificial intelligence revolution in digital finance in Saudi Arabia: A comprehensive review and proposed framework. Sustainability, 15(18), 13725. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813725.
- Al-Omoush, K., & Alsmadi, A. A. (2024). Unraveling the nexus: Intellectual capital, FinTech innovation, competitive agility, and financial inclu-sion. Qualitative Research in Financial Markets. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRFM-08-2024-0214.
- Alawadhi, S. A., Zowayed, A., Abdulla, H., Khder, M. A., & Ali, B. J. (2022). Impact of artificial intelligence on information security in business. 2022 ASU International Conference in Emerging Technologies for Sustainability and Intelligent Systems (ICETSIS). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICETSIS55481.2022.9888871.
- Alblooshi, F. S. A. K. (2022). FinTech in the United Arab Emirates: A general introduction to the main aspects of financial technology. In Entre-preneurial rise in the Middle East and North Africa: The influence of Quadruple Helix on technological innovation (pp. 163–178). Emerald Publish-ing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-517-220221010.
- Aljabari, M., Althuwaini, S., Bouguerra, A., Allahham, M., & Allan, M. (2024). The impact of digital marketing strategies on innovation: The medi-ating role of AI—A critical study of SMEs in the KSA market. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 8(4), 2029–2036. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2024.6.017.
- Allahham, M., Sabra, S., Nofal, E., & Shalluf, S. A. (2024). Analyzing barriers to financial supply chain risk management in emergency response: The mediating role of humanitarian aid logistics. Asian Finance Research Journal (AFRJ), 6, 1–12.
- Allahham, M., Sharabati, A.-A. A., Almazaydeh, L., Shalatony, Q. M., Frangieh, R. H., & Al-Anati, G. M. (2024). The impact of fintech-based eco-friendly incentives in improving sustainable environmental performance: A mediating-moderating model. International Journal of Data & Net-work Science, 8(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2023.9.013.
- Ali, A. A. A., Sharabati, A.-A. A., Alqurashi, D. R., Shkeer, A. S., & Allahham, M. (2024). The impact of artificial intelligence and supply chain collaboration on supply chain resilience: Mediating the effects of information sharing. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 12(3), 1801–1812. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.uscm.2023.12.002.
- Alkhazaleh, A., Assaf, A., Shehada, M., Almustafa, E., & Allahham, M. (2023). Analysis of the impact of fintech firms’ lending on the expansion of service base companies in Jordan. Information Sciences Letters, 12(8), 2891–2902. https://doi.org/10.18576/isl/120837.
- Alrabei, A. M., Al-Othman, L. N., Al-Dalabih, F., Taber, T. A., & Ali, B. (2022). The impact of mobile payment on the financial inclusion rates. Information Sciences Letters, 11(4), 1033–1044. https://doi.org/10.18576/isl/110404.
- Alrjoub, A. M. S., Almomani, S. N., Al-Hosban, A. A., & Allahham, M. I. (2021). The impact of financial performance on earnings management practice behavior: An empirical study on financial companies in Jordan. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 20(Special Issue 2), 1–15.
- Atta, A. A. B., Ahmad, A. Y. A. B., Allahham, M. I., Sisodia, D. R., & Singh, R. R. (2023). Application of machine learning and blockchain tech-nology in improving supply chain financial risk management. Proceedings of the International Conference on Contemporary Computing and Infor-matics (IC3I 2023). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IC3I59117.2023.10397935.
- Gehler, C. P. (2005). Agile leaders, agile institutions: Educating adaptive and innovative leaders for today and tomorrow. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.21236/ADA434868.
- George, J. G. (2024). Leveraging enterprise agile and platform modernization in the fintech AI revolution: A path to harmonized data and infra-structure. International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science, 6(4), 88–94.
- Hatamlah, H., Allahham, M., Abu-AlSondos, I., Mushtaha, A., Al-Anati, G., Al-Shaikh, M., & Ali, B. (2023). Assessing the moderating effect of innovation on the relationship between information technology and supply chain management: An empirical examination. Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences, 17(5), 889–895. https://doi.org/10.18576/amis/170515.
- Hettiarachchi, I. (2025). The rise of generative AI agents in finance: Operational disruption and strategic evolution. International Journal of Engi-neering Technology Research & Management. https://ijetrm.com/
- Lestyowati, J. (2024). Analysis of organizational agility and the contribution of millennial in the Ministry of Finance. Innovative: Journal of Social Science Research, 4(2), 6945–6959.
- Lu, Y., & Ramamurthy, K. (2011). Understanding the link between information technology capability and organizational agility: An empirical ex-amination. MIS Quarterly, 35(4), 931–954. https://doi.org/10.2307/41409967.
- Nafei, W. A. (2016). Organizational agility: The key to organizational success. International Journal of Business and Management, 11(5), 296–309. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v11n5p296.
- Morshed, A., Maali, B., Ramadan, A., Zoubi, M., & Allahham, M. (2024). The impact of supply chain finance on financial sustainability in Jordani-an SMEs. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 12(4), 2767–2776. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.uscm.2023.12.013.
- Ononiwu, M. I., Onwuzulike, O. C., & Shitu, K. (2024). The role of digital business transformation in enhancing organizational agility. World Jour-nal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 23(3), 285–308. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2024.23.3.2670.
- Sahid, A., Maleh, Y., Asemanjerdi, S. A., & Martín-Cervantes, P. A. (2023). A bibliometric analysis of the FinTech agility literature: Evolution and review. International Journal of Financial Studies, 11(4), 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs11040123.
- Saksonova, S., & Kuzmina-Merlino, I. (2017). Fintech as financial innovation: The possibilities and problems of implementation. European Re-search Studies Journal, 20(3A), 961–973. https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/757.
- Salhab, H., Allahham, M., Abu-AlSondos, I., Frangieh, R., Alkhwaldi, A., & Ali, B. (2023). Inventory competition, artificial intelligence, and quali-ty improvement decisions in supply chains with digital marketing. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 11(4), 1915–1924. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.uscm.2023.4.011.
- Shan, R., Xiao, X., Dong, G., Zhang, Z., Wen, Q., & Ali, B. (2022). The influence of accounting computer information processing technology on enterprise internal control under panel data simultaneous equation. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 7(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.2478/amns.2022.2.0157.
- Sharabati, A.-A. A., Rehman, S. U., Malik, M. H., Sabra, S., & Al-Sager, M. (2024). Is AI biased? Evidence from FinTech-based innovation in supply chain management companies. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 8(2), 221–230. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2024.2.005.
- Sharabati, A.-A. A., Awawdeh, H. Z., Sabra, S., Allahham, M., & Ali, A. (2024). The role of artificial intelligence on digital supply chain in indus-trial companies: Mediating effect of operational efficiency. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 12(3), 1867–1878. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.uscm.2023.12.009.
- Shehadeh, H. K., Ahmad, A. Y. B., Allahham, M., & Alsager, M. (2024). The mediating role of ICT on the impact of supply chain management (SCM) on organizational performance (OP): A field study in pharmaceutical companies in Jordan. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 12(2), 1251–1266. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.uscm.2023.11.011.
- Thuneibat, N. S. M., Ali, B., Alqaraleh, M. H., & Thneibat, H. (2022). The mediating role of innovation on the relationship between information technologies and reducing tax evasion. Information Sciences Letters, 11(2), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.18576/isl/110505.
- Tien, C.-T., Hsu, K.-C., & Hsing, Y.-H. (2020). The mediated effect of workforce agility on the relationship of IT leveraging competence and en-trepreneurship. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on E-Society, E-Education and E-Technology (ICSET 2020). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3421682.3421699.
-
Downloads
-
How to Cite
AL-Majali , M. ., Aldalaien, B. . ., & Allahham , M. . (2025). The Impact of Fintech Innovation on Operational Efficiency: The Mediating Role of Organizational Agility in KSA Financial Institutions. International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 14(5), 853-859. https://doi.org/10.14419/tne5xd06
