The Disruptive Innovation Impact of Supply and Demand Matching in Digital Platforms Using Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Methodology: Evidence from China

Abstract

Practice shows that digital platforms could enhance disruptive innovation. Given that digital platforms have always encountered imbalance problems, this study intended to explore which factor configurations could promote disruptive innovation sustainably from the perspective of supply and demand matching. This study constructed a theoretical framework referring to the TOE framework. Based on 25 questionnaires from China, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was used to explore the configurations of disruptive innovations. This study found the following: (1) None of the five factors in the dimensions of technology, organization, or environment could constitute a necessary condition for enabling disruptive innovation alone. (2) There were four supply and demand matching configurations that could lead to highly disruptive innovation. Based on the homogeneous characteristics of the results, the four paths were divided into “technology-organization driven transition” types and “organization-environment collaborative transition” types. (3) Non-highly disruptive innovation included three specific configurations, all of which lacked the core conditions in technical and organizational dimensions, suggesting the importance of technical and organizational factors for disruptive innovation. This study provides guidance on supply and demand matching for platform enterprises to continuously create disruptive innovation. However, the data from China may limit the results’ applicability to a more expansive setting.