Digital transformation is a critical challenge for commercial banks to achieve sustainable competitive advantages in the digital economy. However, conventional research focuses too much on constructing linear models to explain the non-linear relationships between and among the factors relevant to digital transformation. By adopting the configurational framework, we propose that the interactions between strategy and dynamic capabilities determine the paths of how digital transformation may succeed or fail. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of digital transformation practices by Chinese commercial banks shows that: (1) a single condition of strategic orientation or dynamic capabilities does not constitute the necessary condition for high digital transformation, yet market orientation plays a more general role in generating high digital transformation. (2) There are three configurational paths that can contribute to high digital transformation of commercial banks, such as sensing capability-driven paths dominated by strategic orientation, integrating capability-driven paths dominated by strategic orientation, and the market orientation-driven paths dominated by dynamic capabilities. (3) There are two configurational paths that lead to non-high digital transformation, which verifies the existence of the asymmetrical relationship compared to the configurational paths of high digital transformation; (4) In the pathways dominated by strategic orientation, there is a substitutive relationship between sensing capability and integrating capability. The findings make contributions to the literature on digital transformation and provide implications for the digital transformation of commercial banks.

Innovation ambidexterity has become a crucial strategic action for creating sustainable competitive advantages. This research provides novel insights by establishing a connection between performance gaps and innovation ambidexterity. We employ the organization’s resource acquisition and management perspective to construct and empirically assess a moderated mediation model that sheds light on the underlying process—through the dual-mediating path of network broadening (NB) and network deepening (ND) and the moderating role of resource orchestration capabilities. Using subjective surveys and objective-matched data from 362 Chinese listed firms, we confirm the positive-performance-gap-combined innovation ambidexterity relationship, and we find that NB and ND play a parallel mediating role between performance gap and balanced and combined innovation ambidexterity, with ND playing a stronger mediating role than NB. Furthermore, resource orchestration capabilities play a moderating role between NB and balanced and combined innovation ambidexterity, as well as between ND and balanced and combined innovation ambidexterity. These results contribute to the research on social network and ambidexterity literature and provide guidance on how to overcome firms’ performance dilemmas. However, our study has certain methodological limitations that constrain the implications of our results, offering intriguing opportunities for future research.

PurposeIn the digital era, the competitiveness of an enterprise is highly dependent on the success of its digital transformation. The effectiveness of such transformation, in turn, relies heavily on the organization's strategic vision and resource fitness. Accordingly, the authors aim to explore the impact of strategic vision on digitalization (SVD) on the digital transformation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), drawing on the perspective of resource orchestration theory.Design/methodology/approachBased on first-hand interview data from 347 Chinese SMEs, the research model was tested empirically by both Structural Equation Modeling and Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA).FindingsThe study results supported that the positive effect of SVD on digital transformation, and the mediating effect of resource orchestration (resource structuring, resource bundling and resource leveraging) accounts for the relationship between SVD and digital transformation. Further, the fsQCA showed that neither SVD nor resource orchestration alone constitutes a necessary condition for high digital transformation in SMEs, and that SVD and resource orchestration elements constitute three configuration paths that drive SMEs to achieve high-level digital transformation.Originality/valueTo the authors knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to theorize and empirically examine how SVD affects SMEs digital transformation. In addition, the authors have highlighted the importance of resource orchestration in forging a link between SVD and digital transformation. The research contributes to the resource orchestration theory and digitalization literature and provides guidelines on how SMEs can realize digital transformation.