Cybersecurity as a strategic resource for FinTech adoption in Jordanian financial institutions under digital transformation

This paper will look at how cybersecurity as a strategic organizational asset will contribute to the adoption of FinTech in Jordanian financial institutions in the rapidly changing atmosphere of digital transformation. Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study examines the role of cybersecurity assets embodied in the detect, protect and recover processes in ensuring secure and sustainable FinTech integration. The research also assesses the modulating capacity of digital transformation in enhancing the association between cybersecurity features and the adoption of FinTech. The deductive approach was used to adopt a quantitative research design. The sample was sampled using structured questionnaires that were administered to the employees who worked in the Jordanian commercial and Islamic financial institutions. Three hundred valid responses were examined with the help of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), to evaluate the suggested associations among the research constructs. The results indicate that cybersecurity capabilities have a positive and significant impact on the adoption of FinTech through increasing customer trust, decreasing the vulnerability of the operations, facilitating safe digital transactions and institutional preparedness to financial innovation. The findings also reveal that digital transformation has a strong moderate impact on the correlation between cybersecurity and the adoption of FinTech. Banks that have greater digital transformation practices are better placed to align cybersecurity infrastructure with modern financial technologies, thus enhancing operational efficiency, system dependability and strategic flexibility. The research is also restricted to financial organizations in Jordan, and this could have implications on the applicability of the results in other geographical and institutional contexts. The cross-sectional type of study also does not provide an opportunity to observe changes over time. Future studies can utilize longitudinal studies, cross-country samples and other cybersecurity aspects such as artificial intelligence-based security mechanisms, blockchain security and predictive cyber threat analytics The research offers valuable experience to financial institutions, policymakers and technology managers by reiterating the strategic value of cybersecurity investment as a tool in ensuring successful adoption of FinTech. The enhancement of cybersecurity infrastructure and the digital transformation efforts can enhance institutional resilience, consumer trust and competitiveness in the digital financial ecosystem. This paper adds to the emerging body of the literature on the adoption of Fintech and cybersecurity by theorizing cybersecurity as a strategic asset but not a technical defense mechanism. It builds upon the RBV perspective by showing how the cybersecurity capabilities and digital transformation mutually define the adoption of FinTech in the context of an emerging-market financial environment.