When Does Digital Technology Adoption Enhance Firms’ Sustainable Innovation Performance? A Configurational Analysis in China
研究将数字技术采纳分为增强、适应和替代三类，通过分析94家中国高技术制造企业的数据，发现多种活动组合可提升可持续创新绩效，其中增强型采纳起关键作用。
Digital technology (DT) has been widely adopted by firms to improve their innovation performance. However, few studies have explored the diversified adoption of DTs and the impacts of their various combinations on firms’ innovation from a holistic perspective. Hence, this study identifies three categories of digital technology adoption (DTA)—enhancing, adapting, and substituting—from the perspective of business model innovation and recognizes five adopting actions corresponding to the above categories. This study aims to explore the configurative effects of DTA on firms’ sustainable innovation performance (SIP). To study this, 94 cases of Chinese high-tech manufacturing firms are collected using both the interview and questionnaire methods. The data are analyzed using a coding method and then complemented with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to understand how DTA can be combined to enhance firms’ SIP. The findings suggest that several reoccurring activity patterns may lead to high SIP. Among these patterns, enhancing always plays a crucial role. This study complements the previous research by shifting the focus from a single effect of DTA toward a more holistic view.