THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important organisational capability for firms operating in complex and internationally competitive markets. This thesis examines the relationship between artificial intelligence adoption and international business performance among Dubai-based firms and considers operational agility as a mediating mechanism. Guided by Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the study conceptualises AI adoption as a technology-enabled capability that can strengthen organisational sensing, while operational agility reflects the ability to respond quickly through flexible processes, resource reconfiguration and timely operational action. The research adopts a positivist, deductive and quantitative cross-sectional design. The methodology targets approximately 250–300 knowledgeable managerial and professional respondents from internationally active private firms in Dubai, with data intended to be analysed through SPSS and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). AI adoption is specified as the independent variable, operational agility as the mediating variable, and international business performance as the dependent variable. The analytical framework evaluates construct reliability and validity, direct structural relationships, explained variance, effect sizes, predictive relevance and the indirect mediation pathway. In the current thesis file, Chapter Four explicitly identifies its numerical dataset and statistical outputs as illustrative analytical values prepared to demonstrate the planned procedures pending replacement with actual observed survey data. Accordingly, those numerical values should not be interpreted as final empirical evidence. The study is intended to contribute to the international business and digital transformation literature by clarifying whether operational agility provides an organisational pathway through which AI adoption can support stronger international business performance in the Dubai context.