How digital orientation promotes digital process innovation from the perspectives of knowledge and capability: evidence from China

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how digital orientation affects digital process innovation from the dual perspectives of knowledge and capability. It also stresses the mediating effects of digital knowledge creation and strategic flexibility on this relationship, as well as the moderating effect of strategic flexibility on the relationship between digital knowledge creation and digital process innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopted knowledge- and capability-based views to develop the theoretical model. A total of 193 samples from China were collected to test the model and hypotheses by the partial least squares structural equation modeling method.

Findings

The results indicate that digital orientation promotes knowledge creation and strategic flexibility respectively, which in turn facilitates digital process innovation. Also, the effect of digital knowledge creation on digital process innovation is moderated by strategic flexibility.

Originality/value

This study adopts the dual perspectives of knowledge and capability to deepen the relationship between digital orientation and digital process innovation by introducing digital knowledge creation and strategic flexibility as the crucial links, which responds to the call for attaching importance to digital process innovation.

Citation

Wang, X., Liu, Z. and Lei, X. (2025), "How digital orientation promotes digital process innovation from the perspectives of knowledge and capability: evidence from China", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 259-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-01-2024-0019