PurposeThis study aims to examine how and when digital platform capabilities drive technological innovation from a strategic information perspective, regarding information flow and information quality as mediators and business intelligence analytics as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThis study engaged corporate executives in surveys and obtained 182 firm data and then tested the hypotheses using linear regression models and the robustness using the structural equation model.FindingsDigital platform capabilities drive corporate technological innovation through access to strategic information, i.e. strategic information mediates between digital platform capabilities and technological innovation. Business intelligence analytics increases the influence of strategic information on technological innovation.Practical implicationsThis study underlines the importance for companies to construct digital platform capabilities to access strategic information to achieve technological innovation and the role of business intelligence analytics in processing strategic information.Originality/valueThis study finds a new perspective, strategic information, to explain the mechanisms by which digital platform capabilities drive firms’ technological innovation. In addition, the robustness of the resource-based view in understanding digital platform capabilities is stressed.

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether digital platform capabilities (integration and reconstruction) affect technological innovation through knowledge bases in the dimensions of breadth and depth and the moderating role of organisational routines updating.Design/methodology/approachHierarchical regression, mediation effect test macro and bootstrap were conducted to empirically analyse two waves of longitudinal survey data from 179 Chinese technology firms.FindingsResults confirmed that knowledge bases (breadth and depth) mediated the effect of digital platform capabilities (integration and reconstruction) on technological innovation and that updating of organisational routines moderated the relationship between knowledge bases and technological innovation.Practical implicationsThese findings offer guidance to firms that aim to achieve technological innovation and advantages, highlighting the importance of digital platform capabilities, knowledge bases and organisational routines updating.Originality/valueAdvancing from existing digital strategies and firm innovation literature, the authors provide a new perspective (knowledge bases) to respond to the information technology (IT) paradox and understand the role of digital platform capabilities in improving technological innovation.

PurposeThis study aims to examine how and when leader bottom-line mentality (BLM) affects employee innovation (EI) in the context of Chinese organisations in which psychological contract breach (PCB) is a mediator and moral identity (MI) is a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThe authors distributed the questionnaires to technology and culture firms in 2 waves and obtained a sample of 308 employees in 56 teams. The authors used the hierarchical linear model (HLM) and bootstrap method for the hypothesis testing.FindingsThe authors conclude that leader BLM negatively influences EI. Specifically, leader BLM leads mainly to low EI by increasing PCB amongst employees. Moreover, MI plays a moderating role in the above mechanism, i.e. the higher the MI degree of employees, the stronger the mediating role of PCB and the stronger the negative impact of leader BLM.Practical implicationsThis study argues that BLM is necessary for firm development, but paying too much attention to BLM may achieve the opposite effect. Reducing BLM or buffering the negative impact of BLM through various measures (e.g. human resource management) is appropriate for managers.Originality/valueThe authors discover a new mechanism and boundary condition, i.e. leader BLM has a negative impact on EI through PCB and MI strengthens the effect of leader BLM.

Purpose This study aims to explore the influence mechanism of digital platform capability on firm performance in the business-to-business (B2B) context. This study draws on the core competence theory and the resource-based view and includes resource identification, resource allocation and intrapreneurship into the research framework. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 167 B2B firms with survey questionnaires in central, eastern and southeastern coastal areas of China. The firms were mainly involved in e-commerce, manufacturing, service industry and internet technology. Participants were mainly middle and senior managers with a comprehensive grasp of their firms’ information. Findings This study found that digital platform capability has a positive impact on a B2B firm’s performance. Resource identification, resource allocation and intrapreneurship play a chain mediating role between digital platform capability and firm performance. That is, digital platform capability could promote employee intrapreneurship through resource identification and resource allocation, thereby improving firm performance. Practical implications Aiming to gain performance, firms should pay attention to the construction of digital platforms, increase venture capital investment and provide more resources to support intrapreneurship. Originality/value Based on empirical evidence, to the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to link digital platform capability and firm performance in the B2B context of emerging markets, providing a new perspective to clarify its relationship mechanism.

How to motivate employees to break through the role constraints and show more initiative determines the success or failure of a company’s future development. Taking charge behavior refers to the behavior where individuals influence the change of organizational function through voluntary and constructive efforts, which is a challenging organizational citizenship behavior. This study investigates the underlying mechanism and boundary condition of authentic leadership (AL) on employees’ taking charge behavior based on the role identity theory and literature concerning perspective taking. Matched data were collected from a multi-source sample that included 146 direct supervisors and 328 subordinates in mainland, China. The empirical results indicate that AL has a positive influence on the employees’ taking charge behavior, and subordinates’ moqi mediates the relationship between them. In addition, the employees’ perspective taking positively moderated the positive relationship between AL and subordinates’ moqi, as well as the mediating effect of subordinates’ moqi in the relationship between AL and employees’ taking charge behavior. Compared with the low levels of perspective taking, high levels of that made the influence of AL on subordinates’ moqi stronger, so is the whole indirect effect. This study is the first to explore the influencing mechanism of AL on employees’ taking charge behavior from the perspective of the role identity theory, thereby enriching the relevant studies and providing practical insights for organizational leaders regarding on how to foster employees to take charge.

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Purpose How to improve the resilience of service firms in the crisis, such as the COVID-19 epidemic, to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage becomes a growing concern worldwide. Digital platform capability (DPC) provides a series of opportunities and advantages for service firms to shape resilience in the crisis. This study aims to clarify the effect and mechanism of DPC on service firms’ resilience, and provides a new mediator (strategic learning [SL]), as well as two boundary conditions (legal inefficiency [LIE] and legal incompleteness [LIC]). Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were used to obtain firm data, and executives answered these key questions. Data from 293 service firms during the COVID-19 period were used for hypothesis testing. Findings DPC was positively related to the adaptive capacity (AC) and planning capacity (PC) of service firms. SL mediated the positive effect of DPC on the AC and PC of service firms. The positive effect between DPC and SL was weakened when LIE and LIC were high. Practical implications This study suggests that it is a very desirable measure to improve DPC to gain organizational resilience (OR) in the crisis. In addition, a SL process in the crisis is crucial, because service firms need to absorb key strategic information from digital platforms to cope with uncertainty. The services firms need to realize that the benefits of DPC will be weakened in the dysfunctional institutional environment of LIE and LIC. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to link the DPC with the resilience of service firms, and provides a new explanation mechanism and some boundary conditions for this important relationship. Furthermore, this study takes a step forward, because these efforts respond to the widespread call of the literature on digitalization and OR, and provide new insights for understanding digital resilience.