Abstract
With the development of national strategies (such as Industrial 4.0 and Made in China 2025), how to build digital enterprises and cultivate innovation capabilities of enterprises has become a critical problem to Chinese manufacturing enterprises. However, the literature on the specific path of information technology (IT) capabilities to the innovation of enterprises is still lacking a body of relevant empirical research. In particular, it has not yet thought to explore the information technology capabilities, digital transformation, and then innovation performance of manufacturing enterprises. By performing a questionnaire investigation for 138 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, this study adopted both a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the set relations of the conjunctions and conditions and the statistical associations by studying the relationships among information technology capabilities, digital transformation and innovation performance. The results show that the positive impacts of information technology capabilities on the process innovation performance and the digital transformation, as well as the positive impacts of digital transformation on both process innovation performance and product innovation performance. Specifically, digital transformation takes on a new function of partial mediation of IT capabilities and process innovation performance, and digital transformation functions as a complete mediator for IT capabilities and product innovation performance. The combinations of causal recipes related to innovation performance are provided by a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Through the analyses of SEM and fsQCA, this research develops the formation mechanisms of both process innovation performance and product innovation performance, and provides guidance for both IT and innovation management of manufacturing enterprises in China.
Highlights
Industrial circles, academic circles and governments of major industrial countries have recently and rapidly reached some level of agreement on the grand visions of Industry 4.0, such as Made in China 2025 formulated by China and the manufacturing renaissance advocated by the USA [1,2,3]
By investigating and studying 138 manufacturing enterprises in China in this research, this study found that information technology (IT) capabilities have positive impacts on process innovation performance (PSIP) and digital transformation (DT), and DT exert positive impacts on PSIP and product innovation performance (PDIP)
This research deepens the theoretical understanding of the relationships of IT capabilities, DT, PSIP and PDIP, and provides relevant guidance for IT management and innovation management in manufacturing enterprises
Summary
Industrial circles, academic circles and governments of major industrial countries have recently and rapidly reached some level of agreement on the grand visions of Industry 4.0, such as Made in China 2025 formulated by China and the manufacturing renaissance advocated by the USA [1,2,3]. The key to carrying out Industry 4.0 in traditional manufacturing enterprises is to improve the digital level of the value chain, namely, realizing the digital transformation (DT) of enterprises [4,5] (DT in this study highlights that manufacturing enterprises realize digitalization and automation in organizational operation by using digital techniques, like cloud computing, big data, and the social platforms (Bharadwaj et al, 2013).). The Haier Group building itself, a digital enterprise by means of Teamcenter (a full-life cycle management platform of model-based enterprise (MBE)) improves efficiency for new product development and supports global design collaboration and the operation of its supply chain. How to build digital enterprises and cultivate innovation capabilities of enterprises has become an urgent practical problem for traditional manufacturing enterprises as they take the road to Industry 4.0
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