The effect of digital transformation on intrapreneurship in real economy enterprises: a labor input perspective
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 6 June 2023
Issue publication date: 29 August 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Digital transformation is a confidence booster in intrapreneurship, but few have examined its impact on intrapreneurship. Further, quantitative analyses exploring the impact of Chinese enterprises' digital transformation on intrapreneurship at the micro-level are rare. Most enterprises do not have the dividend for digital transformation, and few enterprises have successfully achieved digital transformation through intrapreneurship, internal management re-engineering and technological innovation. This study investigates the effect of digital transformation on intrapreneurship in Chinese real economy enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The study develops and tests a theoretical model that digital transformation impacts intrapreneurship by promoting working capital turnover and furtherly influencing labor input. Panel data of 1,638 Chinese-listed companies between 2007 and 2020 were used to complete the empirical test.
Findings
Digital transformation impacted labor input, with an inverted-U shaped relationship between the two, and labor input significantly stimulated intrapreneurship. This effect promoted labor input's impact on working capital. Chinese real economy enterprises generally increase labor investment to promote intrapreneurship. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that enterprises' asset scale and ownership attributes uniformly affected labor input.
Originality/value
This study provided empirical evidence of the promotional effect of real economy enterprises' digital transformation on intrapreneurship. Further, it advanced the literature by examining this relationship at the micro-level. Moreover, the data sample was long-term and included most industries, thus providing representative results with practical implications.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: The authors acknowledge the financial support of National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21BJL084).
Expression of concern: The publisher of Management Decision is issuing an Expression of Concern for the following article “Cheng, Y., Zhou, X. and Li, Y. (2023), “The effect of digital transformation on intrapreneurship in real economy enterprises: a labor input perspective”, Management Decision, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-09-2022-1320.” which was submitted to the guest-edited special issue ‘Navigating the role of circular economy in entrepreneurship: Opportunities and challenges’. An investigation by the publisher found a number of articles with multiple concerns, including but not limited to compromised editorial handling and reviewing, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and lack of suitability for the scope of the journal. As a result of these concerns and as trust in the content is central to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor-in-Chief and publisher have taken the decision to publish an Expression of Concern for all articles within this special issue. The authors of this article would like to note that they do not agree with the content of this notice. The journal has not been able to confirm whether the authors were aware of these concerns. An investigation is ongoing and is currently unresolved. Further information will be provided by Management Decision as it becomes available.
Citation
Cheng, Y., Zhou, X. and Li, Y. (2024), "The effect of digital transformation on intrapreneurship in real economy enterprises: a labor input perspective", Management Decision, Vol. 62 No. 8, pp. 2578-2598. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-09-2022-1320
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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