Research On The Diffusion Mechanism And The Driving Effect On Business Model Innovation Of Digital Enablement In Manufacturing Firms

The high-quality development of manufacturing firms has become a topic of great concern from all walks of life.However,how to promote the change of efficiency and driver has become a huge challenge.At present,emerging digital technology is widely transforming the production and manufacturing mode.Business model innovation based on digital enablement become the key source of establishing competitive advantage,driving the optimization of the original business model,as well as the expansion of business model,even injecting new vitality into the development and transformation of firms by reconstructing the logic of value proposition and value creation.However,the theorization of the phenomenon of digital enablement driving business model innovation is still needed efforts,together with the antecedents and internal mechanism of digital enablement on business model innovation needing more discussion.In fact,all of those theoretical gaps result from the low level of theorization of the emerging phenomenon,digital enablement.The relevant theoretical contributions are still rare on the issues of what digital enablement is,what kinds of "capabilities" can be offered by digital enablement and how to create value sources for firms through digitally enabled business model innovation.Based on diffusion of innovation theory,the view of capability hierarchy and the resourcebased view,this paper develops a DOD(Digital enablement diffusion-Ordinary capabilitiesDynamic capabilities)analysis framework for discussing the process mechanism of digital enablement diffusion and the impacts of digital enablement on business model innovation.Theoretically,DOD is following the logic of the diffusion process of innovation and the logic of low-level capability promoting the formation of high-level dynamic capability.Using this analysis framework,this paper deconstructs the subcomponents of digital enablement capability through an exploratory case study,and clarifies the formation mechanism of digital enablement capability,together with the impacts of digital enablement on business model innovation.Furthermore,the theoretical analysis and hypothesis deduction are carried out for the empirical tests,which use the methods of multiple regression,structural equation model and factor analysis.The results show that:(1)from the perspective of organizational capability,digital enablement capability can be deconstructed into three subcomponents,namely,connect capability,control capability and analytic capability.(2)The process of digital enablement diffusion,that is,the formation of digital enablement capability can be divided into three stages:strategic orientation of digital enablement,routinization of digital enablement and formation of digital enablement capability.(3)In the process of digital enablement diffusion,the activities of the previous stage positively affect that of next stage.And strategic orientation of digital enablement has a postive impact on formation of digital enablement capability,and routinization of digital enablement plays a mediating role between strategic orientation and formation of capability.Leveraging the framework of flexibility-control orientation of organizational culture,this study also finds that in the cultural atmosphere of control orientation rather than flexibility orientation,formation of digital enablement capability is not easily influenced by strategic orientation and routinization of digital enablement.(4)Digital enablement and its three subordinated capabilities can positively influence novelty-centric business model innovation and efficiency-centric business model innovation at the same time.In other words,digital enablement capability creates efficiency value and novelty value for manufacturing firms in business model innovation.(5)Efficiency-centric business model innovation is more likely to be affected by the interaction of digital enablement and exploitation orientation,while novelty-centric business model innovation is more likely to be affected by the interaction of digital enablement capabilities and exploration orientation.In addition,this study also finds other special moderating effects of exploitation orientation and exploration orientation in digitally enabled business model innovation.The main innovative viewpoints and theoretical contributions of this study are as follows:(1)This study further clarify the conception and capability subcomponent of digital empowerment,providing a basic analytical framework and measurement tools for future research on digital empowerment.(2)This study provides a process model to the research on overcoming the assimilation gap and the internal mechanism of digital empowerment diffusion.(3)This study further clarifies the impact mechanism of digital empowerment on business model innovation,which not only alligns with the existing qualitative research on the innovative value and efficiency value created by digital technology,but also contributes to the research literature of capability hierarchy.In addition,this study also clarifies the moderating role of innovation orientation in digital empowerment on business model innovation,elaborating the possibilities of interaction effect between digital empowerment capability and innovation orientation on business model innovation,which further widen the theoretical boundary of digital empowerment theory.