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Digital transformation has gained particular interest among academics and policymakers in recent years. However, the empirical quantification of digital transformation stages and their impact on innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains understudied. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of digital transformation stages on a differentiated measurement of innovation performance in SMEs.

The authors propose a simplified one-dimensional digital maturity path to estimate the stages of digital transformation in SMEs. The authors validate their approach with a cluster analysis and perform an ordered logistic regression to estimate the impact of digital transformation stages on SMEs' innovation performance.

The authors' results show that digital transformation in general has a positive impact on SMEs' innovation performance. More precisely, the authors find that the early stage of digital transformation has a detrimental effect on innovation performance, while significant and positive effects can be expected from the experimental stage onward. Furthermore, the advanced stage of digital transformation significantly increases the probability of producing radical innovations.

This study contributes to the ongoing discussion about the relationship between digital transformation and innovation in SMEs by presenting an approach to quantify digital transformation stages in SMEs. Additionally, this study provides new insights into the specific dynamics of the relationship between different stages of digital transformation and their impact on a differentiated measurement of innovation performance, including technological, non-technological and radical innovation.

Digital transformation and innovation-driven development have become an international consensus. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of relationships, mechanisms and economic consequences between digital transformation and enterprise innovation quality in order to provide a benchmark for developing countries to implement digital transformation strategies and innovation-driven strategies and provide a major support for economic recovery in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era.

Using microdata from A-share listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2021, this study examines the relationship between digital transformation and enterprise innovation quality and further reveals the internal logic and economic consequences of digital transformation to improve enterprise innovation quality through the mediating effect and moderating effect models.

The results demonstrate that digital transformation is beneficial for improving enterprise innovation quality. The heterogeneity test demonstrates that digital transformation has a larger effect on improving enterprise innovation quality in non-state-owned enterprises and eastern enterprises in China. The mechanism test demonstrates that digital transformation can improve enterprise innovation quality by improving internal control quality and analyst attention. Furthermore, with the increase in enterprise innovation inputs, digital transformation plays a significantly stronger role in improving enterprise innovation quality. The extended analysis demonstrates that digital transformation can significantly improve enterprise financial performance by improving innovation quality.

First, the construction of the core explanatory variable digital transformation index in this study is based on the Python data analysis software, which calculates the frequency of digital transformation in the text of the business situation analysis portion of the annual report of the listed companies and then obtains the degree of digital transformation of the company in this year. There may be some deviation from the degree of digital transformation in the actual production and operation of enterprises. Second, in addition to internal control quality and analyst attention, are there other mediating mechanisms for the impact of digital transformation on the quality of enterprise innovation? Third, whether the moderating effect of innovation input on digital transformation and innovation quality is related to human capital factors of the research and development (R&D) team, such as the technical background of R&D personnel, etc.

This study enriches the relevant theories of digital transformation and broadens the research boundaries of digital transformation and enterprise innovation. This study's result provides an empirical basis for enterprises to improve enterprise innovation quality and financial performance from the perspective of digital transformation at the micro level and points out specific practical directions, combining theory with practice.

The digitization process has increased the pressure on large firms to transform. However, current frameworks on digital transformation are not well explaining what factors contribute to, or hinder, a firm's digital transformation. Innovation diffusion theories could complement existing frameworks, and for this reason, the purpose of this paper is to expand the existing body of knowledge on what contributes to, or hinders, an industrial firm's digital transformation by applying a validated framework based on innovation diffusion theories on two pioneer cases: General Electric and Siemens EHR/Health Services.

The framework used in this paper is based on several years' empirical studies and iterative literature reviews on innovation diffusion theories. Further, each use case is based on literature reviews and unique empirical data, collected by the authors of this paper as a result of taking active part of respective company's multi-years transformation.

Common drivers of, and clear inhibitors to the two firms' transformation, were identified. The innovation diffusion framework was found to work very well in identifying those factors.

The implications are that researchers better can analyze/explain a digital transformation of a firm, and business managers can better plan or improve their firms' transformation processes.

The theoretical contributions of this paper are two: first, complement existing frameworks with a validated framework for innovation diffusion; second, provide an extension of our body of knowledge on factors that contributes to, or hinders, industrial firm's digital transformation.

Coordinating low-carbonization and digitalization is a practical implementation pathway to achieve high-quality economic development. Regions are under great emission reduction pressure to achieve low-carbon development. However, why and how regional emission reduction pressure influences enterprise digital transformation is lacking in the literature. This study empirically tests the impact of emission reduction pressure on enterprise digital transformation and its mechanism.

This article takes the data of non-financial listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as a sample. The digital transformation index is measured by entropy value method. The bidirectional fixed effect model was used to test the hypothesis.

The research results show that emission reduction pressure forces enterprise digital transformation. The mechanism lies in that emission reduction pressure improves digital transformation by promoting enterprise innovation, and digital economy moderates the nexus between emission reduction pressure and digital transformation. Furthermore, the effect of emission reduction pressure on digital transformation is more significant for non-state-owned, mature and high-tech enterprises.

This paper discusses the mediating role of enterprise innovation between carbon emission reduction pressure and enterprise digital transformation, as well as the moderating role of digital economy. The research expands the body of knowledge about dual carbon targets, digitization and technological innovation. The author’s findings help update the impact of regional digital economy development on enterprise digital transformation. It also provides theoretical guidance for the realization of digital transformation by enterprise innovation.

This study aims to integrate the concepts of digital transformation, innovation strategy, and competitive advantage, into a novel research model in an effort to identify a more competitive path for digital transformation within manufacturing enterprises.

The research model was tested through multivariate hierarchical regression analyses, and Hayes’ PROCESS for SPSS, utilizing survey data collected from 183 manufacturing enterprises in China.

The results indicate that, in comparison to research and development (R&D) and production, digital transformation in service and organizational activities exert a more significant impact on competitive advantage. Conversely, digital transformation in sales does not exhibit a significant impact on competitive advantage. Furthermore, in contrast to exploratory innovation and ambidexterity, exploitative innovation has a more pronounced influence on digital transformation. Additionally, digital transformation has been confirmed as a mediator in the relationship between innovation strategy and competitive advantage.

These findings expand our comprehension of digital transformation as an evolving process and shed light on the relationship between digital transformation and competitive advantage across various value-creating activities. This research serves as a valuable resource for decision-makers in selecting the most suitable path for digital transformation and configuring innovative resources.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature regarding the open innovation management approaches that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use to access digital technologies and incorporate them into their organizational processes. The research question is: What organizational and process-level managerial actions do SMEs take to successfully access and implement digital technologies within their organizational processes?

Using Guertler et al.'s (2020) Action Innovation Management Research (AIM-R) framework, this study examines the digital transformation experiences of 10 European SMEs to gain insights into the managerial actions that foster successful digital transformation.

The findings of the paper reveal two major contributions. First, a digital transformation roadmap for SMEs is proposed, with a focus on accessing external resources and reconfiguring internal ones to ease their digital transformation journey. Second, three distinct paradoxes that influence the digital transformation process in SMEs are highlighted, providing useful insights into the challenges and tensions SMEs face during this journey.

This paper provides a unique perspective on the digital transformation of SMEs by examining the managerial actions required for successful technology adoption and revealing the paradoxes that may emerge during this transformative process. The findings form the basis for future research, deepening our understanding of digital transformation in SMEs and providing actionable advice to managers and practitioners navigating this journey.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on company innovation, specifically centering on the quantity and quality of innovation. The paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of whether the epidemic inhibits innovation and the role of digital transformation in mitigating this negative impact.

The paper uses a quasi-experimental study of the COVID-19 pandemic and constructs a differential model to analyze the relationship between the epidemic and firm innovation in three dimensions: total, quantity and quality. The paper also uses a difference-in-difference-in-differences model to test whether digital transformation of firms mitigates the negative impact of the epidemic and its mechanism of action.

The results show that COVID-19 significantly reduced the overall level of firm innovation, primarily in terms of quantity rather than quality. Furthermore, this study finds that digital transformation plays a pivotal role in mitigating the pandemic’s adverse impact on innovation. By addressing financing constraints and countering demand insufficiency, digital transformation acts as a catalyst for preserving and fostering innovation during and after the pandemic.

This study extends the current research on the pandemic’s impact on firm innovation at the micro level. It offers valuable insights into strategies for fostering digital transformation among Chinese enterprises in the post-pandemic era.

Manufacturers increasingly resort to digital transformation to shape their competitiveness in the digital economy era, while supply chain (SC) collaborative innovation helps them cope with market uncertainties. However, whether and how digital transformation can facilitate SC collaborative innovation remain unclear. To address this gap, we aims to investigate the effects of digital transformation (strategy and capability) on SC collaborative (process and product) innovation and market performance.

We use partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with a sample of 210 Chinese manufacturers to investigate the effects of digital transformation (strategy and capability) on SC collaborative (process and product) innovation and market performance.

The results show that digital strategy and capability positively impact SC collaborative process and product innovation, which enhances market performance. In addition, SC collaborative innovation mediates the relationship between digital transformation and market performance.

This study contributes to the literature by identifying how digital transformation drives SC collaborative innovation towards improving market performance and providing practical guidance for enterprises in promoting digital transformation and SC collaborative innovation.

As an emerging socio-technical paradigm, high-speed railways profoundly change individuals' lifestyle and allow for the shift toward a green transportation. Digital technologies open an opportunity window for the development of enterprises. This study aims to clarify the impact of firm digitalization on the innovation efficiency of the Chinese high-speed rail industry. In addition, human capital is the important non-physical capital of enterprises. The authors also elucidate the moderating role of human capital on the above relationship.

Based on the data of Chinese high-speed railway listed companies from 2015 to 2021, this study explores the impact of digital transformation on the innovation efficiency, and further clarifies the boundary role of human capital with two-way fixed effect regression models.

The empirical results indicate that digital transformation has a positive impact on the innovation efficiency of the Chinese high-speed railway enterprises. Furthermore, human capital significantly enhances the above relationship. In addition, digital transformation fosters the innovation efficiency of small- and medium-sized enterprises and private-owned enterprises, but the correlation coefficients between digital transformation and the innovation efficiency of large enterprises and state-owned enterprises are not significant.

This is one of the earliest studies to explore how digital technologies shape R&D activities. From the perspective of relative efficiency, this study evaluates the effectiveness of digital transformation and provides empirical evidence for the formulation and implementation of corporate digital strategies. Moreover, this study links human capital with digital transformation and identifies condition factors that affect the effectiveness of digital transformation, thereby supplementing existing knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to explain the following questions: First, whether the executive equity incentive has an impact on enterprise innovation and digital transformation; Second, if there is any influence, whether there is difference between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises in the research conclusions; Third, whether the digital transformation of enterprises has had an intermediary effect between executive equity incentive and enterprise innovation; Fourth, whether the proportion of independent directors in the corporate governance mechanism has a regulatory effect.

In the context of China's promotion of “digital China” construction and high-quality development of economic innovation, this paper takes Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies in 2011–2019 as a sample, empirically studies the linear and nonlinear relationship between executive equity incentive and enterprise digital transformation and innovation, and further considers the regulatory effect of heterogeneous property rights and the proportion of independent directors, with a view to improving the reform of China's enterprise equity incentive system make contributions to enterprise innovation and digital transformation.

The results show that executive equity incentive has a positive role in promoting enterprise digital transformation and innovation, and enterprise digital transformation has a positive role in promoting enterprise innovation; Digital transformation of enterprises has a partial intermediary effect between executive equity incentive and enterprise innovation.

First, it expands the research on the economic consequences of enterprise salary incentive system. Second, it expands the research on the specific role path of enterprise digital economy transformation. Third, provide new ideas for the reform of corporate governance mechanism.