Collaborative Capabilities Research Articles

How digital collaboration capability affects incremental and radical service innovation in manufacturing firms: the mediating role of organizational agility

Purpose Despite a growing number of manufacturing firms actively collaborating with ecosystem members aiming for advanced service solutions, it remains unclear how digital collaboration capability (DCC) affects incremental service innovation (ISI) and radical service innovation (RSI) in the context of ecosystems. Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory and resource orchestration theory, this study aims to investigate the impacts of DCC on ISI/RSI and examine the mediating role of organizational agility (OA). Design/methodology/approach In this empirical paper, the authors obtained questionnaire data from 238 Chinese manufacturing firms embedded in the ecosystems. Then, the authors examined all the hypotheses through hierarchical regression analyses. Findings The empirical evidence indicates that DCC has a distinct effect on ISI and RSI. DCC positively affects ISI, whereas DCC shows an inverted U-shaped effect on RSI. In addition, OA mediates the positive effect of DCC on ISI within a certain range, whereas OA always mediates the inverted U-shaped effect of DCC on RSI. Originality/value This study enriches and extends existing research on DCC and service innovation by elucidating the heterogeneous effects of DCC on ISI/RSI and the complicated mediating role of OA. This study also has practical implications for manufacturing firms to revisit their collaboration capability and agility to boost ISI/RSI in the context of ecosystems.

Web-based human-robot collaboration digital twin management and control system

Human-robot collaboration presents a promising application in customized production. The utilization of digital twin technology, an advanced form of virtual reality interaction, is pivotal in augmenting the capabilities of human-robot collaboration by enhancing perception and interaction dynamics. Human-robot collaboration digital twins have been proposed to create collaboration strategies, simulate collaborative processes, and guarantee individual safety. Nevertheless, there remain obstacles in the implementation of digital twins within human-robot collaboration. One notable challenge involves developing a user-friendly and easily accessible digital twin management and control system that is well-suited for human-robot collaboration. The human-robot collaboration digital twin is a sophisticated system that encompasses both physical and virtual environments. Effectively managing diverse resources within this system, devising collaboration strategies, and overseeing the collaboration process is essential for the standardized utilization of digital twins in human-robot collaboration. In response to the specific requirements of digital twins in this context, a web-based system has been conceptualized and implemented for managing and controlling human-robot collaboration digital twins. The system is structured based on the browser/server architecture model. Its functional design is implemented through a modular approach. The server-side database management system chosen is MySQL, while the programming and development of the control system are carried out using the Microsoft.Net Framework 4.8 on the Visual Studio 2022 platform. The system’s functional modules are exemplified through a case study on human-robot collaborative assembly. The findings of this study offer insights that can guide the standardized management and application of digital twins within the realm of human-robot collaboration.

Do we get along well? A dyadic study of how and when congruence in specific investments influence innovation

Using a matched survey of 209 buyer-supplier pairs, this study adopts a dyadic approach to investigate the impact of congruence in specific investments on innovation performance. It explores the mediating role of knowledge acquisition and moderating role of digital collaboration capability. The study focuses on the outcomes differentiated by levels of investment congruence (high-high vs. low-low congruence) and scenarios (congruence vs. in congruence), including the direction of incongruence (buyer-higher vs. supplier-higher incongruence). The findings indicate that investment congruence correlates with increased knowledge acquisition compared with incongruence, particularly for high-high specific investment congruence. In cases of incongruence, scenarios with supplier-higher incongruence led to more effective knowledge acquisition compared with buyer-higher incongruence. The research also reveals that congruence in specific investments indirectly enhances buyer innovation performance through knowledge acquisition, and the effect is enhanced by digital collaboration capabilities. This study thereby contributes to the business-to-business literature by revealing how and when congruence in specific investments influence innovation performance.

밀레니얼 세대와 Z세대의 특성과 팔로워십이 조직몰입에 미치는 영향 : 직무만족의 매개효과와 세대 간 차이분석

The MZ generation is expected to account for 83% of the domestic workforce by 2025(Lee, J. W., 2019) and will play a key role in the future economy. Recently, issues such as the declining organizational adaptability of the MZ generation and frequent resignations have negatively impacted corporate management. This study analyzes the effects of autonomy, needs for achievement, Work-Life Balance(work-family balance, work-leisure balance) and followership on organizational commitment among the MZ generation, and examines the mediating effect of job satisfaction among these factors, followed by an analysis of the differences in moderating effects between generations. Data was collected from 336 MZ generation employees nationwide, and hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis. The analysis results showed that, first, needs for achievement, work-leisure balance, and followership had significant effects on job satisfaction, while autonomy and work-family balance did not . Second, work-leisure balance and followership had significant effects on organizational commitment, while autonomy, needs for achievement, and work-family balance did not. Third, job satisfaction had a significant effect on organizational commitment, and the mediation test showed that needs for achievement had a full mediating effect. Work-leisure balance and followership showed partial mediating effects. Fourth, the influence of job satisfaction was greatest for needs for achievement, followed by followership and work-leisure balance, while organizational commitment was greatest for followership, followed by work-leisure balance. Fifth, the test of moderating effect differences based on generational classification showed that the moderating effects of work-leisure balance and followership were significant, with Generation Z showing a higher influence of these factors on organizational commitment. The implications of this study are that it emphasize the need for improving the work environment and strengthen collaboration capabilities to engage the MZ generation whithin the organizations, as well as the need for followership that reflects the characteristics of the MZ generation. In conclusion, this study provided practical measures to enhance the organizational commitment of MZ generation employees, there by Practical and academic implications for human resource development.

Openness influences business model innovation: the mediating role of digital capability

PurposeExploring open value, cultivating digital capability (DC) and driving business model innovation (BMI) have become an inevitable choice for enterprises to meet market demand and adapt to environmental changes. However, as one of the situational variables of BMI, the positive or negative influence of openness has not been proved and the path mechanism between DC and BMI is not clear. Based on the dynamic capability theory, this paper takes manufacturing enterprises as an example to explore the internal impact mechanisms of organizational openness on BMI. It extends the analysis by introducing DC as a mediating variable and introducing manufacturing enterprise type (high-tech and non-high-tech) as a moderating variable.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was conducted using data collected in China, data from 355 manufacturing enterprises were collected to carry out empirical research. Participants were mainly middle and senior managers with a comprehensive grasp of their firms’ information. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test the reliability and validity of the sample data, and negative binomial regression analysis was used to test hypothesis relationships.FindingsThe authors find an inverted U-shaped relationship between openness and BMI, and explain that excessive openness may lead to low resource utilization, organizational inertia, cooperation distrust, which will have a negative impact on BMI. DC includes digital resource capability (DRC), digital management capability (DMC) and digital collaboration capability (DCC), which promote BMI and play a mediating role between openness and BMI. Enterprise type has a moderating effect on the relationship between DC and BMI.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this paper summarize the opportunities and threats of open innovation, help enterprises fully understand the double-edged sword impact of openness, guide manufacturing enterprises to be sensitive to openness and achieve sustainable innovation. By analyzing the path of DRC, DMC and DCC to BMI, managers can improve their understanding of digital-driven value creation process and improve the competitive advantage of enterprises.Originality/valueThis paper presents the relationships among openness, DC and BMI. We find the non-linear effects of openness on DC and BMI, bridging the inconsistent view of positive or negative relationship between openness and organizational change in previous studies. The introduction of DC extends the theory of dynamic capability in the digital age, and opens the “black box” from opening to BMI from the process perspective of DRC, DMC and DCC. From the perspective of enterprise type, this paper provides different choices of capability upgrading and strategic innovation based on openness for high-tech and non-high-tech manufacturing enterprises.

Empowering Educators: The Impact of Reverse Mentoring on Developing Scientific Mindset and Research Skills

The integration of educational research into teaching practice is an important component in fostering the professional development of educators. Recognizing mentoring activities as an effective method for fostering such research-driven teaching practice, this study set out to explore the effectiveness of reverse mentoring in cultivating a scientific mindset and enhancing research skills among school-based teacher educators. The defining feature of reverse mentoring is the reversal of the mentor and mentee roles, with student teachers mentoring school-based teacher educators. These school-based teacher educators here represent in-service teachers who teach in schools on a daily basis while simultaneously supporting the training of future teachers. Through a semi-structured interview study, nine reverse mentoring projects implemented in Austria and Greece were analyzed. The findings highlight the importance of the thematic focus of the reverse mentoring projects, motivations for participation, insights into collaboration dynamics, learning outcomes, and suggestions for process improvement. Learning outcomes are reported in new teaching methods, content knowledge, and improved collaboration capabilities. A framework categorizing reverse mentoring collaboration into basic, guided, and deep levels is discussed. Suggestions for further research are provided to validate and expand upon the findings of this study.

Effective hydrogen production and coupling degradation of organics (4-nitrophenol, methylene blue, and Rhodamine B) in wastewater by electrospun PAN@Fe0 composite nanofibers

The pursuit of clean energy generation and environmental preservation is of utmost importance for societal progress. However, couple clean energy production and pollution control is still a difficulty. In this study, a novel electrospun composite mat, with nano zero valent iron (Fe0, nZVI) encapsulated into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers was acted as a catalyst. The activation energy (Ea) for the hydrolysis of NaBH4 to produce hydrogen is 22 kJ·mol−1, hydrogen atom utilization efficiency (HGE) of NaBH4 is 60.80%. Three kinds of organic dyes 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), methylene blue (MB), and Rhodamine B (RhB) were served as the model pollutant, to construct NaBH4-organic system for energy production and pollution reduction. The NaBH4-organic system demonstrates a collaborative capability to simultaneously remove organic pollutants and generate hydrogen, with a coupling equilibrium point between the two processes. The hydrogen generation rate (HGR) and HGE increased with the concentration of pollutants increased. The degradation of 4-NP, MB, and RhB followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, with RhB degrading dosage 20 and 44 times higher than 4-NP and MB, respectively. H2 and H· contributed to the organic degradation. nZVI directly participated in the formation H2 and H·. PAN@Fe0 possessed good recyclability and moderate cost. The degradation process adhered to the classical surface reaction controlled Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) model. The integration of synergistic production capacity and pollutant degradation aligns well with the principles of green chemistry and sustainable development. This study demonstrates a novel approach to no precursor loss catalysts preparation, efficient production clean H2, advanced treatment of dye-containing wastewater, carbon neutral operation of sewage treatment plant.

6G edge-networks and multi-UAV knowledge fusion for urban autonomous vehicles

The advent of 6G wireless networks has the potential to unlock diverse applications of scalable autonomy. By advantageously coupling the individual and aggregated attributes of diverse multi-UAV fleets, a range of high-value applications such as logistics, enhanced disaster response, urban navigation, and surveillance can be significantly improved. However, enabling effective communication for knowledge fusion necessitates the intrinsic optimization of performance metrics like energy consumption, resource allocation, latency, and computational overheads to enhance autonomous efficiency. Furthermore, designing robust security features is essential to safeguarding privacy, control, and operational integrity. This paper explores a novel collaborative knowledge-sharing (KS) framework that leverages 6G and edge-computing capabilities to facilitate the cooperative training of decentralized machine learning models among multiple UAVs, without the need to transmit raw data. This framework aims to enhance the learning experience and operational efficiency of autonomous vehicles. The DECKS (distributed edge-based collaborative knowledge-sharing) architecture enables Federated Learning (FL) within UAV networks, allowing local models to be trained and shared among neighboring UAVs for creating global models. This promotes intelligent knowledge aggregation without a central entity, enhancing collaborative capabilities among autonomous vehicles. The DECKS architecture efficiently extracts and distributes collaborative shared experience to ground vehicles through edge and direct inference, reducing energy consumption, latency, and computational overhead. Our simulation analysis demonstrates that the DECKS architecture has the potential to reduce energy consumption by 70% in sensorless vehicles and improve autonomous vehicle learning performance by 15% compared to centralized approaches in a distributed environment. This improvement is achieved by comparing the efficiency of systems with and without aggregated knowledge, as well as with a centralized system.

Sustainable Collaboration and Incentive Policies for the Integration of Professional Education and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education (IPEIEE)

The Integration of Professional Education and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education (IPEIEE) has been recognized as an important direction for the development of higher education in enhancing the innovation and entrepreneurship awareness and ability of college students. However, universities and teachers are facing challenges while promoting IPEIEE, namely, various stakeholders, the unreasonable design of the curriculum system, and the lack of relevant incentive policies. In addition, IPEIEE in many universities has been placed on hold. Few studies have examined the innovation regime in IPEIEE, despite it being a dilemma that the field confronts. Thus, taking into account the roles of universities, teachers, and students in the evolutionary game model, this paper firstly constructs an evolutionary game model for teachers and students, in which the costs and parameters affecting the benefit matrix, as well as the stability strategy, are refined. Secondly, the behavior of universities is introduced to examine the effects of universities on strategic choices of teachers and students. Finally, a mechanism analysis is conducted in combination with the principal–agent model to gain a deeper understanding of the evolutionary stability of stakeholder strategies in the IPEIEE. The findings emphasize potential Evolutionary Stable Strategies (ESS) that universities, as promoters and guides, should take as measures concerning both economic encouragement and management encouragement to promote IPEIEE, so as that the ‘ideal state’ can be achieved. Furthermore, if specific incentives for different stakeholders are proposed and set at an appropriate intensity, this will encourage active cooperation among these stakeholders. This paper explores the evolution mechanism of innovation strategies in IPEIEE from the perspective of stakeholders, offering a better comprehension of the dynamic evolution of these strategies. The key findings also offer support for policymakers to promote the mutual development of agents in the IPEIEE, thus enhancing the overall sustainable collaborative capability of the IPEIEE.

Research on Strategies to Promote the Integration of Industrial Chain, Innovation Chain, and Supply Chain in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

With the rapid development of international economic integration, industrial competition has gradually evolved from a competition of enterprise capabilities and resources to a game of comprehensive system collaboration capabilities among all participating parties. That is, the competition in the current international economy has evolved into an interactive and collaborative competition among the “three chains” of industry chain, capital chain, and innovation chain. Based on analyzing the current situation of the integration of the industrial chain, innovation chain, and supply chain, this article deeply analyzes the geographical advantages of the three chains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. From the perspective of scientific and technological innovation and talent cooperation synergy, it proposes the integration strategy of the three chains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

A holographic telementoring system depicting surgical instrument movements for real-time guidance in open surgeries

Background and ObjectiveDuring open surgeries, telementoring serves as a valuable tool for transferring surgical knowledge from a specialist surgeon (mentor) to an operating surgeon (mentee). Depicting the intended movements of the surgical instruments over the operative field improves the understanding of the required tool-tissue interaction. The objective of this work is to develop a telementoring system tailored for open surgeries, enabling the mentor to remotely demonstrate the necessary motions of surgical instruments to the mentee. MethodsA remote telementoring system for open surgery was implemented. The system generates visual cues in the form of virtual surgical instrument motion augmented onto the live view of the operative field. These cues can be rendered on both conventional screens in the operating room and as dynamic holograms on a head mounted display device worn by the mentee. The technical performance of the system was evaluated, where the operating room and remote location were geographically separated and connected via the Internet. Additionally, user studies were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the system as a mentoring tool. ResultsThe system took 307 ± 12 ms to transmit an operative field view of 1920 × 1080 resolution, along with depth information spanning 36 cm, from the operating room to the remote location. Conversely, it took 145 ± 14 ms to receive the motion of virtual surgical instruments from the remote location back to the operating room. Furthermore, the user studies demonstrated: (a) mentor's capability to annotate the operative field with an accuracy of 3.92 ± 2.1 mm, (b) mentee's ability to comprehend and replicate the motion of surgical instruments in real-time with an average deviation of 12.8 ± 3 mm, (c) efficacy of the rendered dynamic holograms in conveying information intended for surgical instrument motion. ConclusionsThe study demonstrates the feasibility of transmitting information over the Internet from the mentor to the mentee in the form of virtual surgical instruments’ motion and projecting it as holograms onto the live view of the operative field. This holds potential to enhance real-time collaborative capabilities between the mentor and the mentee during an open surgery.

Comparative Analysis of Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel

An emerging landscaping and lawn care service company (GreenLawn) is seeking to transition from manual record-keeping to digital solutions. With significant growth over two years, GreenLawn requires efficient software to manage operations and finances while avoiding complexity and extensive training costs. The company evaluates Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, weighing features, collaboration capabilities, ease of use, and pricing. GreenLawn's specific needs include service scheduling, workforce management, client information storage, inventory tracking, marketing, expense tracking, and financial modeling. The comparison highlights Excel's advanced features and integration with Microsoft Office versus Google Sheets' real-time collaboration and cost-effective accessibility. Questions address software selection, task management, collaboration strategies, cost-effectiveness, integration with industry tools, scalability, training, and adoption. Ultimately, GreenLawn's decision hinges on aligning software capabilities with its unique requirements and growth objectives.

Unpacking Inter-Organizational Collaboration Capabilities in the Circular Economy

Unpacking Inter-Organizational Collaboration Capabilities in the Circular Economy

Immersive and Interactive 3D Visualization of Large-Scale Geoscientific Data

Abstract Virtual reality (VR) technology has great potential in supporting planetary scientists and the field of geosciences by offering immersive and interactive experiences for data exploration and analysis. This paper shows the opportunities presented by the use of VR technology in the geosciences domain while also identifying the open challenges associated with this integration. Our focus is on highlighting the several benefits that VR brings, including stereo vision, head tracking, and collaborative capabilities. These features can foster knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary research. Nevertheless, the adoption of VR presents certain challenges that need to be addressed. These include maintaining high refresh rates, handling large heterogeneous datasets, and striking a balance between visualization fidelity and performance. Fortunately, significant advancements have been made in high-performance data analysis, progressive data streaming, and real-time visualization, enabling interactive exploration of large-scale datasets within VR environments. To support a broader adoption among domain experts, we propose a visualization approach that scales both with display and with data size. As such, the system can be used to interactively explore large-scale datasets in immersive environments like CAVEs or powerwalls, on HMDs, or on traditional desktop setups. This approach allows for seamless transitions between desktop and VR experiences, leveraging immersive environments for collaboration and outreach activities. In this paper, we present an architectural framework, hardware environments, use cases, lessons learned, and the future potential of VR in this field. Through this scalable system, we anticipate transformative advancements in scientific exploration, collaboration, and knowledge dissemination.

A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning-Based Task-Offloading Strategy in a Blockchain-Enabled Edge Computing Network

In recent years, many mobile edge computing network solutions have enhanced data privacy and security and built a trusted network mechanism by introducing blockchain technology. However, this also complicates the task-offloading problem of blockchain-enabled mobile edge computing, and traditional evolutionary learning and single-agent reinforcement learning algorithms are difficult to solve effectively. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-enabled mobile edge computing task-offloading strategy based on multi-agent reinforcement learning. First, we innovatively propose a blockchain-enabled mobile edge computing task-offloading model by comprehensively considering optimization objectives such as task execution energy consumption, processing delay, user privacy metrics, and blockchain incentive rewards. Then, we propose a deep reinforcement learning algorithm based on multiple agents sharing a global memory pool using the actor–critic architecture, which enables each agent to acquire the experience of another agent during the training process to enhance the collaborative capability among agents and overall performance. In addition, we adopt attenuatable Gaussian noise into the action space selection process in the actor network to avoid falling into the local optimum. Finally, experiments show that this scheme’s comprehensive cost calculation performance is enhanced by more than 10% compared with other multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms. In addition, Gaussian random noise-based action space selection and a global memory pool improve the performance by 38.36% and 43.59%, respectively.

A cooperative detection scheme for malicious nodes based on D-S trust evidence reasoning in mobile crowdsensing networks

Mobile crowdsensing possesses excellent collaborative capabilities and has become an important solution for addressing complex sensing tasks. However, the high mobility and anonymity of nodes bring security risks such as forging false data and maliciously consuming platform resources. To address these problems, a cooperative detection scheme for malicious nodes based on Dempster-Shafer(D-S) trust evidence reasoning is proposed. Firstly, the sensing platform collects trust data of nodes through a trust evidence chain, which includes data credibility, recommendation trustworthiness, task cooperativeness and behavioral credibility. Meanwhile, trust decay and control mechanisms are adopted to dynamically update the trust evidence chain. Additionally, a recommendation trust network based on recommendation value is constructed through the collaboration between platform and nodes. The Isolation Forest is used to analyze node behavior, and the behavioral credibility is calculated using Bayes’ rule. Then, K-Means, Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), Three-way Decision and Grey Cluster are used to classify nodes into trusted, suspicious and malicious sets. Finally, the purification of suspicious set is achieved through raft consensus among trusted nodes. Simulation tests demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme in accuracy, false negative rate, false positive rate and time consumption. Overall, the scheme has better detection performance when using GMM.

Understanding the role of social media and dynamic capabilities in innovation performance in AgTech: a serial mediation model

PurposeWe developed and tested a theoretical model that measures the importance of social media and dynamic capabilities with regard to improving innovation performance in startups from the agribusiness sector (AgTech), that is, technology-based companies with scalability potential that operate in the agribusiness sector.Design/methodology/approachThis model analyzed three dynamic capabilities: internal collaboration capacity, absorptive capacity, and organizational agility. To test this theoretical model, we employed structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation (PLS-SEM) analyzing 237 AgTech in Brazil.FindingsOur results show that the use of social media positively affects innovation performance and contributes to internal collaboration capability (a second-order construct that encompasses commitment, communication, and trust). Internal collaboration is an antecedent of absorptive capacity and organizational agility. These two dynamic capabilities positively impact innovation performance. Our results also indicate that these dynamic capabilities serially mediate the relationship between social media and innovation performance.Practical implicationsWhile some literature describes the dark side of social media, our study sheds light on the importance of these platforms to improve internal collaboration in AgTech, a pivotal capability that is necessary to develop other relevant capabilities.Originality/valueThis study presents results from one of most large AgTech survey found in literature. Furthermore, this study also shows that there are dynamic capabilities essential to develop others relevant dynamic capabilities, indicating that innovation performance involves a sequential integration of capabilities.

Cybersecurity Management: Developing Robust Strategies for Protecting Corporate Information Systems

This growing complexity and sophistication of cyber threats call for a sea change concerning how organizations handle cybersecurity. Traditional isolated, reactive security models no longer protect against evolving digital risk. This abstract provides an innovation-oriented comprehensive methodology for completely transforming the approach of organizations to the protection of their critical information assets. At the heart of the method lies a recognition of the fact that cybersecurity is not strictly a technological challenge but has multifaceted elements that have to be aligned with the overall business objectives operational constraints, and risk tolerance of the organization. One of the crucial innovations is the integration of advanced analytics, blockchain technology, and machine learning techniques that will enable any organization to create a much more accurate and proactive perspective related to its vulnerability to cyber threats. This holistic cybersecurity methodology can transform security posture, strengthen collaborative capabilities, and build a resilient cybersecurity ecosystem through effective implementation and validation. These insights and lessons learned will, no doubt, inspire and guide other organizations toward a more robust, adaptive, and collaborative approach to cybersecurity management as the organization continues to improve and further innovate in the field of best security practices.

Organizational Culture and Big Data Analysis as antecedents to Swift Trust in Civil- Military relations during National Disaster Management

This study investigates the inter-relational effects of Big Data Analytics (BDA) and Swift Trust (ST) on Collaborative Performance (CP) during disaster management, framed within the Chaos and Complexity Theory. It focuses on both formal and informal organizational cultures, exploring the mediating role of organizational culture on the ST-CP relationship and the moderating role of BDA on the relationships between ST, organizational culture, and CP. The study highlights the critical importance of BDA capabilities for effective collaboration, providing insights for policymakers and administrative officials. Additionally, it underscores the significance of ST creation for military and civil leadership to achieve desired collaborative outcomes. Disasters, characterized by natural chaos, necessitate swift decision-making and resource management through predictive analysis.

Specialized complementary assets and disruptive innovation: digital capability and ecosystem embeddedness

PurposeWith the widespread penetration of digital technologies, disruptive innovation is not developed by a single firm but is increasingly achieved by an ecosystem. However, limited research has examined the mechanisms involved in achieving disruptive innovation in the context of digitalization and ecosystems. To address this gap, we explore the impact of three dimensions of specialized complementary assets (SCAs) within the innovation ecosystem, human capital SCA (HCSCA), production SCA (PSCA) and marketing SCA (MSCA), on disruptive innovation in core firms through the mediation of digital capability, comprising digital operation capability (DOC) and digital resource collaborative capability (DRCC). Furthermore, innovation ecosystem embeddedness is examined as a moderator between digital capability and disruptive innovation.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 234 core firms in China’s high-tech industry. Hierarchical regression, AMOS, and PROCESS tools were used to examine the data.FindingsThe results reveal the following: (1) HCSCA and PSCA positively affect disruptive innovation, while MSCA is negatively correlated with disruptive innovation. (2) Digital capability mediates the relationship between HCSCA and disruptive innovation, as well as PSCA and disruptive innovation. However, it suppresses the negative impact of MSCA on disruptive innovation. (3) Innovation ecosystem embeddedness strengthens the influence of DOC on disruptive innovation, but weakens the influence of DRCC on disruptive innovation.Originality/valueThe findings advance the knowledge of disruptive innovation, SCAs within the innovation ecosystem, digital capability and innovation ecosystem embeddedness. They also provide practical insights into the effective implementation of disruptive innovation.