Investigating Relationship Between Digital Technology Application, Slack, and Enterprise Innovation Based on Mediating Effect Model

Abstract

With the rapid penetration of emerging digital technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and mobile Internet at all levels of the economy and society, human society is accelerating into the era of digital economy. The deep integration of digital technologies with the real economy and the resulting reconfiguration of value creation logic have provided new momentum for high-quality economic and social development. Under the new wave of industrial technology revolution, more and more enterprises are making digital transformation a core strategy for establishing a new competitive advantage and achieving sustainable organisational growth. The application of digital technology has led to a profound change in the way social resources are allocated. The application of digital technology has triggered profound changes in the way society allocates resources and has further influenced all aspects of innovation activities. So, based on the data of A-share manufacturing enterprises listed in China from 2016 to 2020, we constructed a mediating effect model to empirically test the digital technology application on enterprise innovation and the intermediary effect through the slack. The results show that the application of digital technology has a significant facilitating effect on innovation. Secondly, slack has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between digital technology applications and enterprise innovation. Thirdly, the mediating effect of the application of digital technology on enterprise innovation through slack is significantly lower than the direct effect.