The Role of Digital Transformation as A Mechanism to Attract Foreign Direct Investments in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: in the light of Vision 2030

Abstract

The research aimed to study the relationship between digital economy indicators (network readiness index, Internet service subscription rate index out of the total population, fixed and mobile phone subscriptions, broadband service subscriptions) as independent variables and the business environment and foreign direct investment index as dependent variables during the time period (2006). – 2023) with the application of the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method and Robust regression in order to avoid the problem of Heteroskedasticity. The study found that there is only a positive and significant relationship between the network readiness index and foreign direct investment, while the index of the percentage of Internet service subscriptions out of the total population and broadband service subscriptions. The results showed the opposite of our expectations, which is negative and significant on foreign direct investment. In addition to this, the indicator of the percentage of Internet service subscriptions out of the total population, mobile phone subscriptions, and broadband service subscriptions have a positive statistical significance on the business environment index.