Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises

The use of digital technologies has enabled enterprises to enhance their innovation capabilities and reconstruct their competitive advantage throughout the wave of digital transformation. Previous research has examined the driving forces behind digital transformation through the lens of institutiona...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dongwei Li, Jaffar Abbas, Haojun Wang, Khalid Al-Sulaiti, Bei Lyu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-02-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025010515
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850190111678922752
author Dongwei Li
Jaffar Abbas
Haojun Wang
Khalid Al-Sulaiti
Bei Lyu
author_facet Dongwei Li
Jaffar Abbas
Haojun Wang
Khalid Al-Sulaiti
Bei Lyu
author_sort Dongwei Li
collection DOAJ
description The use of digital technologies has enabled enterprises to enhance their innovation capabilities and reconstruct their competitive advantage throughout the wave of digital transformation. Previous research has examined the driving forces behind digital transformation through the lens of institutional theory, resource-based views, dynamic capacities, and upper echelons theory. However, these studies have ignored the fact that the decision makers with bounded rationality formulate digital transformation strategies based on “heuristic decisions”. In order to address the above research gap, this study examines the impact of innovation expectation gap on digital transformation of enterprises based on the behavioral theory of the firm. In this paper, Chinese A-share manufacturing enterprises listed from 2010 to 2021 are used as the research sample. The results show that as the innovation expectation gap widens, enterprises will be more motivated to implement digital transformation to improve their innovation performance. Accordingly, the innovation expectation gap has a positive impact on the digital transformation of enterprises. After CEO power and CEO traits are embedded in the research framework, it is found that CEO power can strengthen the positive impact of innovation expectation gap on enterprise digital transformation. In addition, if the CEO has both functional diversity and digital literacy, CEO power's strengthening effect on the relationship between innovation expectation gap and enterprise digital transformation can also be enhanced. The study provides new insights for the study of enterprises digital transformation decision-making from the perspective of innovation expectation gap, which helps to expand the research topics of the behavioral theory of the firm.
format Article
id doaj-art-ed07863c2e0b4b7e88d71bd2cd2dfc39
institution OA Journals
issn 2405-8440
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Heliyon
spelling doaj-art-ed07863c2e0b4b7e88d71bd2cd2dfc392025-08-20T02:15:24ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402025-02-01114e4267110.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e42671Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprisesDongwei Li0Jaffar Abbas1Haojun Wang2Khalid Al-Sulaiti3Bei Lyu4School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; School of Political and Economic Management, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, ChinaSchool of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, ChinaAl Rayyan International University College in Partnership with University of Derby UK, Doha, QatarSchool of Economics and Management, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China; Chinese Graduate School, Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Nonthaburi, Thailand; Corresponding author. Huaibei Normal University, No. 100, Dongshan Road, Xiangshan District, Anhui Province, Huaibei, 235000, China.The use of digital technologies has enabled enterprises to enhance their innovation capabilities and reconstruct their competitive advantage throughout the wave of digital transformation. Previous research has examined the driving forces behind digital transformation through the lens of institutional theory, resource-based views, dynamic capacities, and upper echelons theory. However, these studies have ignored the fact that the decision makers with bounded rationality formulate digital transformation strategies based on “heuristic decisions”. In order to address the above research gap, this study examines the impact of innovation expectation gap on digital transformation of enterprises based on the behavioral theory of the firm. In this paper, Chinese A-share manufacturing enterprises listed from 2010 to 2021 are used as the research sample. The results show that as the innovation expectation gap widens, enterprises will be more motivated to implement digital transformation to improve their innovation performance. Accordingly, the innovation expectation gap has a positive impact on the digital transformation of enterprises. After CEO power and CEO traits are embedded in the research framework, it is found that CEO power can strengthen the positive impact of innovation expectation gap on enterprise digital transformation. In addition, if the CEO has both functional diversity and digital literacy, CEO power's strengthening effect on the relationship between innovation expectation gap and enterprise digital transformation can also be enhanced. The study provides new insights for the study of enterprises digital transformation decision-making from the perspective of innovation expectation gap, which helps to expand the research topics of the behavioral theory of the firm.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025010515Enterprise digital transformationInnovation expectation gapCEO powerCEO traits
spellingShingle Dongwei Li
Jaffar Abbas
Haojun Wang
Khalid Al-Sulaiti
Bei Lyu
Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
Heliyon
Enterprise digital transformation
Innovation expectation gap
CEO power
CEO traits
title Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
title_full Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
title_fullStr Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
title_full_unstemmed Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
title_short Who is in the driving seat? Assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
title_sort who is in the driving seat assessing innovation performance feedback and digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises
topic Enterprise digital transformation
Innovation expectation gap
CEO power
CEO traits
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025010515
work_keys_str_mv AT dongweili whoisinthedrivingseatassessinginnovationperformancefeedbackanddigitaltransformationofmanufacturingenterprises
AT jaffarabbas whoisinthedrivingseatassessinginnovationperformancefeedbackanddigitaltransformationofmanufacturingenterprises
AT haojunwang whoisinthedrivingseatassessinginnovationperformancefeedbackanddigitaltransformationofmanufacturingenterprises
AT khalidalsulaiti whoisinthedrivingseatassessinginnovationperformancefeedbackanddigitaltransformationofmanufacturingenterprises
AT beilyu whoisinthedrivingseatassessinginnovationperformancefeedbackanddigitaltransformationofmanufacturingenterprises