Exploring how entrepreneurial orientation improve firm resilience in digital era: findings from sequential mediation and FsQCA
European Journal of Innovation Management
ISSN: 1460-1060
Article publication date: 6 June 2022
Issue publication date: 2 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Under extensive pressure from normal market competition, frequent technological change and extreme exogenous shock, firms are facing severe challenge nowadays. How to withstand discontinuous crises and respond to normal risks through improving resilience (RE) is an important question worth researching. Thus, drawing on the strategic entrepreneurship theory, the purpose of this study is exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and RE, and combining digitization to discuss the role of digital business capability (DBC), digital business model innovation (DBMI) and environmental hostility (EH).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on survey data from 203 Chinese firms, using the methods of linear regression and bootstrap to test our hypothesis. Furthermore, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA) is used to identify previously unknown combinations which lead to strong/weak RE in digital context.
Findings
First, EO positively influenced DBC and RE. Second, DBMI promoted RE, DBC and DBMI served as sequential mediators that linked EO and RE. Third, EH positively moderated the effects of EO on RE. Further the study revealed that different configuration of DBMI and dimensions of EO and DBC can explain RE.
Originality/value
The study explains mechanism of RE from perspective of digitization. The conclusion is good for further consolidating strategic entrepreneurship theory, and providing a new frame for firms to build the ability of antifragile.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the major specific project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No: 18VSJ058). The authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for the significant comments, which have greatly improved the quality of the authors' paper.
Competing of Interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Citation
Xia, Q., Xie, Y., Hu, S. and Song, J. (2024), "Exploring how entrepreneurial orientation improve firm resilience in digital era: findings from sequential mediation and FsQCA", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 96-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-12-2021-0593
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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