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A firm will seek an optimal balance between internal R&D and technology outsourcing when formulating its innovation strategy. This paper aims to provide a review of the determinants of firm's innovation strategy, and performs an empirical study on a sample from Chinese high‐tech industry, with the purpose of identifying two aspects of the issue: the choice patterns of Chinese firms over innovation strategy, and the innovation effect elasticity of different strategies.

The development of a multiple regression model supported by data from industry level and a statistic analysis.

Outsourcing is the major innovation strategy adopted by most Chinese high‐tech firms, especially technology import, which implies the imperfection of Chinese innovation service system. The empirical analysis also indicates the insufficiency of internal R&D expenditure and the weakness of absorptive capacity in Chinese high‐tech firms. Although, Chinese high‐tech firms prefer the outsourcing strategy in their innovation, the contribution of outsourcing is much smaller than that of internal R&D. When expenditures are increased by the same rate, the innovation output form internal R&D is twice the output of outsourcing. For improving Chinese firms' innovation efficiency, the reform of innovation service system is needed on the macro‐level, while on the micro‐level, it calls for firms to readjust their innovation strategy portfolio.

This paper will make up for the deficiency in current researches on innovation, which often apply firm samples in developed countries, and lack evidences from firm samples in developing countries. In addition, it will provide the decision‐making basis for Chinese Government's current actions in constructing and improving China's innovation service system.

This editorial aims at providing a general framework for papers in this special issue. The main theme is to understand the organizational effectiveness from recent developments in technology innovation and human resources strategies.

The editorial first describes the need for technology innovation and HRM integration. A three‐strategy model for global technology innovation and organizational development was adopted: personnel strategy, system strategy, and organizational strategy.

The personnel strategy could play a crucial role in enhancing the effects of human resources management (HRM) and entrepreneurship by supporting the main dimensions of HRM. The system strategy was used to facilitate technology innovation through knowledge management while the organizational strategy was adopted to create positive organizational culture and high performance systems.

The paper suggests that globally distributed engineering and international technology entrepreneurship be new area for theory building. The strategies from this special issue have implications for the study of new information technology innovation and e‐HR developmental approaches as well as professional service, customer relations modeling and strategic HRM.

Technology-enabled business-to-business (B2B) services contribute the largest share to GDP growth and are fundamental for an economy’s value creation. This article aims to identify key service- and digital technology-driven B2B innovation modes and proposes a research agenda for further exploration.

This conceptual paper adopts a techno-demarcation view on service innovation, encompassing three core dimensions: service offering (the service product, or the “what”), service process (the “how”) and service ecosystem (the “who/for whom”). It delineates the implications of three digital technologies – the internet-of-things (IoT), intelligent automation (IA) and digital platforms – for service innovation across these core dimensions in B2B markets.

Digital technology has immense potential ramifications for value creation by reshaping all three core dimensions of service innovation. Specifically, IoT can transform physical resources into reconfigurable service products, IA can augment and automate a rapidly expanding array of service processes, while digital platforms provide the technical and organizational infrastructure for the integration of resources and stakeholders within service ecosystems.

This study suggests an agenda with six themes for further research, each linked to one or more of the three service innovation dimensions. They are (1) new recurring revenue models, (2) service innovation in the metaverse, (3) scaling up service innovations, (4) ecosystem innovations, (5) power dependency and lock-in effects and (6) security and responsibility in digital domains.

With the deep development of the new technological revolution and industrial transformation, the development, application, expansion and integration of digital technology provide opportunities for transforming the manufacturing industry from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing. However, little research currently focuses on analyzing the influencing factors of intelligent development in this field. There is a lack of research from the perspective of the digital innovation ecosystem to explore the intrinsic mechanism that drives intelligent development. Therefore, this article starts with high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises as the research subject to explore how their digital innovation ecosystem promotes the effectiveness of enterprise intelligent development, providing theoretical support and policy guidance for enterprises to achieve intelligent development at the current stage.

This article constructs a logical framework for the digital innovation ecosystem using a “three-layer core-periphery” structure, collects data using crawling for subsequent indicator measurement and assessment and uses the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis method (fsQCA) to explore how the various components of the digital innovation ecosystem in high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises work together to promote the development of enterprise intelligently.

This article finds that the various components of the digital innovation ecosystem of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises, through mutual coordination, can help improve the level of enterprise intelligence. Empirical analysis shows four specific configuration implementation paths for the digital innovation ecosystem of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises to promote intelligent development. The core conditions and their combinations that affect the intelligent development of enterprises differ in each configuration path.

Firstly, this article discusses the practical problems of intelligent transformation and development in the manufacturing industry and focuses on the intelligent development effectiveness of various components of the digital innovation ecosystem of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises in the context of digitalization. Secondly, this article uses crawling, text sentiment analysis and other methods to creatively collect relevant data to overcome the research dilemma of being limited to theoretical analysis due to the difficulty in obtaining data in this field. At the same time, based on the characteristics of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises, the “three-layer core-periphery” digital innovation ecosystem framework constructed in this article helps to gain a deep understanding of the development characteristics of the industry's enterprises, provides specific indicator analysis for their intelligent development, opening the “black box” of intelligent development in the industry's enterprises and bridging the gap between theory and practice. Finally, this study uses the fsQCA research method of configuration analysis to explore the complexity of the antecedents and investigate the combined effects of multiple factors on intelligent development, providing new perspectives and rich research results for relevant literature on the intelligent development of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises.

Based on the background of enterprise digital transformation, this paper aims to examine the impact of digitization on the cooperative behavior and environmental performance of green technology innovation.

By constructing a model of quantity competition between the two enterprises, this paper examines the impact of digitization on the cooperative behavior and environmental performance of green technology innovation from the micro level. It uses Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share-listed companies as research samples. An unbalanced panel data set from 2011 to 2018 was constructed to empirically test the effect of digital transformation on the environmental performance of enterprises.

The findings reveal the following. First, digital transformation can significantly improve the environmental performance of enterprises. Second, green technological innovation sharing plays an intermediary role between digital transformation and enterprise environmental performance. Third, when the level of digitization is high, the sharing effect of green technology innovation brought about by digital technology is stronger and enterprises tend to carry out cooperative green technology innovation. Lastly, the level of development of regional science and technology finance plays a positive regulatory role in digital transformation and enterprise environmental performance.

This paper first proposes that green technology innovation-sharing is an important mechanism that can significantly improve enterprises' environmental performance. The authors empirically examine the mechanism and analyze the heterogeneity of the impact of digitalization level on enterprises' environmental performance. The authors also discuss the moderating effect of regional technology and finance development levels on the relationship between digitalization and enterprises' environmental performance.

This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering over 20 years of research (from 2000 to 2023) and including 73 journal papers.

This review allows us to highlight a relationship between firms’ international strategies and the knowledge processes enabled by applying digital technologies. Specifically, the authors discuss the characteristics of patterns of knowledge flows and knowledge processes (their origin, the type of knowledge they carry on and their directionality) as determinants for the emergence of diverse international strategies embraced by single firms or by populations of firms within ecosystems, networks, global value chains or alliances.

Despite digital technologies constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the internationalization process, and international businesses in general, and operating cross borders implies the enactment of highly knowledge-intensive processes, current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically use what they know and seek out what they do not know in the international environment, using the affordances of digital technologies.

While the growth of emerging technologies like Blockchain has created significant market opportunities and economic incentives for firms, it is valuable for both researchers and practitioners to understand their creation mechanisms. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.

Based on the knowledge search perspective, this study examines the impact of search boundary on innovation novelty and quality. Additionally, innovation targets, namely R&D innovation and application innovation, are proposed as the moderator of the knowledge search effect. Using a combination of machine learning algorithms such as natural language processing and classification models, the authors propose new methods to measure the identified concepts.

The empirical results of 3,614 Blockchain patents indicate that search boundary enhances both innovation novelty and innovation quality. For R&D innovation, the positive impact of search boundary on innovation quality is enhanced, whereas for application innovation, the positive effect of search boundary on innovation novelty is improved.

This study mainly contributes to the growing literature on emerging technologies by describing their creation mechanisms. Specifically, the exploration of R&D and application taxonomy enriches researchers' understanding of knowledge search in the context of Blockchain invention.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the digital innovations which are being introduced in the HRM field in organizations in the modern business services sector in Finland and Poland. It is also intended to identify the most important factors/trends that influence digital innovations and to identify the challenges they generate for HRM departments. The practical objective is to develop recommendations for organizations executives, policy makers and researchers.

The research was mainly based on a quantitative research approach and a questionnaire survey. Additionally, the authors conducted a semi-structured interview was with the representatives of the HRM departments in the surveyed organizations. The qualitative research of the obtained results allowed to deepen the obtained quantitative data. The purpose of the data triangulation used was to increase the reliability of the data.

Nearly 90% of HRM employees declared that the companies they work for have implemented digital innovations. Among the introduced digital innovations, chatbots, dashboards, application software systems, a virtual HRM assistant and digital tools were indicated. The COVID-19 pandemic and the progress of robotization and automation have accelerated the implementation of digital technologies in HR departments in both Poland and Finland. There are however differences between the two countries – it is evident that in Finland digital innovations were already introduced by modern businesses organizations before the pandemic period, while in Poland the innovations were mostly implemented during and after the pandemic period. It is worth emphasizing the differences regarding the two countries in terms of the level of technology advancement.

Similar to most studies conducted, this study has its limitations and the authors are aware of them. First, future research using the tool which was used in this study should focus on confirming its reliability. Secondly, its scope and scale were limited as it was not possible to obtain an industry-wide sample. It should be noted that the obtained results cannot be generalized to a broader context, although they provide valuable conclusions and recommendations and may be an inspiration for further research. For the future research, it is recommended that the researchers should pay more attention to the challenges and difficulties that accompany digital innovations in HRM departments. One of the aspects is the need to pay attention to the cultural and psychological aspects of the presence of technology in organizational areas, which have only been signaled in this article. A more in-depth study could address the issue of negative attitudes toward the introduction and use of digital technologies. The future research could focus on creating the necessary conditions at each stage of introducing digital innovations and using the potential of these tools – starting with needs analyses, awareness of goals, benefits, dealing with concerns and risks, communication and evaluation and assessment of the technology in question. For future research, it is recommended that researchers pay more attention to the challenges and difficulties that accompany digital innovations in HRM departments. One of the aspects is the need to be aware of the cultural and psychological aspects of the presence of technology in organizational areas, which has only been signaled in this article. A more in-depth study could address the issue of negative attitudes toward the introduction and use of digital technologies. The future research could focus on creating the necessary conditions at each stage of introducing digital innovations and using the potential of these tools – starting with needs analyses, awareness of goals, benefits, dealing with concerns and risks, communication and evaluation and assessment of the technology in question.

The study provides suggestions for practice, providing companies in Finland and Poland with the insight into the impact of the trends on the development of digital innovations in HRM departments and the challenges they generate. The contributions of this study are also the recommendations and guidelines for organizations to effectively implement digital technologies. This will allow not only to better adapt to the present situation, but also to more accurately predict future trends.

The research results can be useful for the development of HRM practices, as traditional practices are increasingly being replaced by new digital modes of leading and managing capital resources in organizations. This development is followed by the need for new competencies in HRM (Mazurchenko, Maršíková, 2019), a new understanding of leadership, thus digital tools may prove particularly supportive in this context (Salojärvi, 2018). Digital innovation research conducted in the modern business services industry can be particularly valuable in the context of the flow of technological innovations, including know-how, implementation of modern organizational solutions; which transfers to other industries (MORR, 2017). Digital innovations can contribute to reducing the complexity of HRM functions, which will accelerate management and personnel decisions. It will improve the quality of analytical data, as well as increase access to employees and opportunities in planning their personal development. As a result, the introduction of digital innovations will contribute to reducing costs and increasing the efficiency of HRM processes.

This study provides a new and timely perspective by examining applied digital innovations and related challenges affecting the implementation of digital innovations by HRM departments in the modern business services sector. This survey provides comprehensive information on how and what can enhance the capacity for digital innovation in Finnish and Polish organizations. This article theoretically analyzes the importance of technological development for HRM departments and reviews the previous research on digital technologies in HRM departments and the factors and challenges of introducing digital innovations. It also characterizes the modern business services sector, which is very active in introducing digital innovations.

This paper aims to create a conceptual model that connects learning organizations, service innovation and technology acceptance.

The importance of the interaction of variables benefiting both individuals and organizations has been comprehensively explained by combining two well-known theories – learning organizational theory and service innovation theory – with the technology acceptance model. In the first part of the study, conceptual model has been constructed and then applied to the hospitality industry of which results have been presented in the second part of this paper.

It is hypothesized that learning organization, service innovation and technology acceptance have significant relationships. It is also suggested that the learning organization plays an intermediary role in the relationship between technology acceptance and service innovation. Empirical results in this regard have been presented in the second part of the paper.

The relations have been established and tested in the hospitality industry in Antalya. However, the model can be applied and established relations tested in other industries.

This research contributes to our knowledge of the intricate linkages that exist between learning organizations, technology acceptance and service innovation. Originality of the paper is related to the novel multilayered model illustrating three-way interactions between the three dimensions of learning organization, technology acceptance and service innovation.

This paper aims to examine how high involvement HRM (HIHRM), technology adaptation and innovativeness influence employees to respond to technology innovation performance – that is, radical innovation performance and incremental innovation performance – in distinct ways.

The purposive judgmental sample technique is used to assess the perceptions of 545 IT employees in Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry. The partial least square-structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS) method is applied to analyze and interpret the data.

Findings of the analysis show that HIHRM, technology adaptation and innovativeness influence employees to exhibit technology innovation performance. Furthermore, both technology adaptation and innovativeness show the significant mediating effects between HIHRM and technology innovation performance.

First, this study’s findings contribute to HIHRM and technology innovation performance within the context of the resource-based theory. Second, the RMG organizations would acknowledge the role of HIHRM on employee technology adaptability and innovation capability in this regard. A future study might point to the models' ability to create the best work environments, which can help organizations to boost employee productivity through adaptation and innovation.

The study would offer a distinctive perspective on higher-order HIHRM and how they affect IT employees in RMG organizations in Bangladesh that could be approached in other labor-intensive and developing nations. This study also expands the research on technology adaptation and innovativeness by exploring the mediating roles between HIHRM and employee technology innovation performance in the organization.