Strategies to enhance the corporate innovation resilience in digital era: A cross-organizational collaboration perspective

Abstract

The current economic environment is characterized by increasing uncertainty, while digitalization has led to profound transformations in both the economy and society. There is a pressing need to conduct an in-depth investigation into the specific effects of cross-organizational cooperation on firms' innovation resilience (FIR) in the digital era, as well as the underlying mechanisms driving these effects. This study utilizes panel data encompassing 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities, intending to analyze the impact of market-based and science-based cross-organizational cooperation on FIR and explore the heterogeneity of this impact. Moreover, the study examines the mediating and moderating mechanisms that influence the relationship between cross-organizational cooperation and FIR. The findings indicate that both market-based cooperation, including cooperation with suppliers (CS) and cooperation with customers (CC), and science-based industry-university-research cooperation (IURC) significantly enhance FIR, with science-based IURC demonstrating the most pronounced effect. Additionally, it is revealed that the impact of market-based and science-based cross-organizational cooperation exhibits spatial heterogeneity in promoting FIR. Market-based and science-based cross-organizational cooperation effectively improves enterprise liquidity, enhances operational efficiency, and consequently enhances innovation resilience (IR). Moreover, the positive impact of cross-organizational cooperation on FIR is amplified by increasing the degree of digital transformation and digital technological innovation.

Keywords

• Innovation resilience
• Cross-organizational collaboration
• Market-based cooperation
• Science-based cooperation
• Digital transformation
• Current assets