•Nowadays big data plays a key role in competitiveness.•Digital technologies can create tension between old values and new ones.•Digital culture is a prerequisite for the success of digital technologies.•Business digitisation can boost the development of value activities.•Business digitisation and technology value development support the improvement of company results. In recent years new digital technologies have brought about important changes for individuals, organisations and society in general. The vast amount of digitised data that is made available to companies can be a new source of value generation. However, the mechanisms through which companies can take advantage of digital technologies to increase performance are not clearly defined. A research model is proposed suggesting that developing a digital organisational culture facilitates both the process of business digitisation and the generation of value from digital tools, with the ultimate goal of improving organisational performance. The research involved 93 production centres of a multinational company with presence in more than 10 countries. The theoretical model was tested by using structural equation modelling. The results show that business digitisation can boost the development of value activities, but companies will only unleash this potential if they incorporate a digital organisational culture. By defining the organisational culture that best supports their digital strategy, firms can expect to improve their performance.