企业的数字嵌入性:内涵结构、量表开发及检验

Digital Embeddedness of Enterprises:Connotative Structure,Scale Development and Testing

数字经济时代,数字化成为企业弥补资源缺口、塑造技术优势、推动经济管理变革的主要途径。然而,相关研究关注数字化的价值内涵、影响因素、实践模式及作用效应,没有系统识别企业数字行为的内容和特征,也就无法全面描述企业的数字化过程和数字化效益。因此,本文结合嵌入性理论和严谨的研究范式,界定企业数字嵌入性的内涵结构,并进行量表开发与检验,从创新与绩效视角进一步考察数字嵌入性量表的预测有效性。首先,开展了一项基于21个已发表案例的质性元分析,归纳企业数字嵌入性的三个维度:数据要素嵌入性、数字技术嵌入性和数字网络嵌入性。其次,在此基础上,遵循规范的量表开发程序,通过探索性因子分析和验证性因子分析,确立了包含15个题项的构成型测量量表。最后,利用252份问卷实证检验数字嵌入性的预测效力,并发现数字嵌入性三维度与创新能力和经营绩效均显著正相关。本文有助于延伸数字经济时代的嵌入性理论范畴,明晰企业数字嵌入性的体系框架,为后续相关实证研究提供测量工具,并指导中国本土企业数字化转型的具体实践。

Today's world is experiencing a wave of digitization,and enterprise digitization has become the main way to make up for the resource gap,shape technological advantage,and drive organizational change. However,many real enterprises still fall into a maze when embedding digital behavior,understanding it as the introduction of technology basis or relying on digital forms such as cooperative network relationships,and have not yet systematically identified the internal laws and external characteristics of enterprise digitization,so it is impossible to fully describe the digital embedding process and digital transformation benefits of enterprises. At present,scholars at home and abroad pay attention to the value connotation,influencing factors,practice mode and effect of digitalization,especially focusing on the digital change of economic subjects in resources,processes,culture,strategy,etc.,with little in-depth analysis of the content and degree of digital embedded behavior,making it difficult to form an effective path for enterprises to implement digitalization in production factors,productivity and production relations. In view of this,in order to clarify the digital behaviors of enterprises,the multidimensional manifestation of digital embeddedness is explored from a process perspective and integration idea,with a view to providing a feasible direction for the digital adoption of enterprises,and assessing the digital maturity of enterprises through scale development and testing.This study takes embeddedness theory as the basic theory.First,21 published enterprise single cases were screened for qualitative meta-analysis by using “digital embeddedness”,“Internet embeddedness”,“technology embeddedness”and “digitization” as search terms on CNKI and China Management Case Sharing Center respectively.By coding the original statements of the case through Nvivo software,combining the existing literature support and the research team's repeated refinement,it is believed that digital embeddedness is the core production factor of data,digital technology is the key tool,and the Internet is the main port.Change the behavior of value activities such as research and development,production,supply chain,and customer cooperation. Enterprise digital embeddedness consists of data element embeddedness,digital technology embeddedness and digital network embeddedness. Data element embeddedness refers to the combination of enterprise data production factors and traditional production factors,including market data,production data,supply chain data,customer data and human resource data.Digital technology embeddedness refers to the integration of enterprise digital technology and business system,including big data technology application,cloud computing technology application,artificial intelligence technology application and blockchain technology application.Digital network embeddedness refers to the coordination of enterprise innovation boundary and digital network platform,including network structure embeddedness and network relationship embeddedness.Second,following a common scale development procedure,20 measurement question items were initially obtained based on the adaptation of the original relevant items and the results of the qualitative meta-analysis,and questionnaires were distributed to middle and senior managers through enterprise forum,e-works digital enterprise network and digital economy industrial park.SPSS and AMOS were used to conduct reliability analysis,KMO test,Bartlett spherical test and Harman single factor test for the recovered 258 valid questionnaires.Items that did not meet the parameter standards were deleted,and the models were fitted and tested for reliability and validity.The digital embeddedness scale was finalized with 5 measurement items for each of the three dimensions,comprising a total of 15 measurement items.Finally,in order to verify the predictive validity of the digital embeddedness scale,the two outcome variables of innovation ability and operational efficiency were selected as the correlation indicators of digital embeddedness.Specifically,data element embeddedness,digital technology embeddedness and digital network embeddedness are respectively taken as independent variables,and the hypotheses are proposed based on the related literature and reality.Credamo was used to launch a large-scale questionnaire survey,and 252 questionnaires were used for hierarchical regression analysis.The empirical results showed that the three dimensions of digital embeddedness had a positive impact on innovation ability and business performance.Comparison of control group data analysis further indicates the strength of digital embeddedness in explaining innovation and performance. This paper helps to extend the research scope of embeddedness theory in the micro-mechanism of enterprises in the era of digital economy,clarify the systematic framework of enterprise digitization under the behavioral perspective,provide a measurement tool for the subsequent empirical research on digital embeddedness,and provide suggestions for local Chinese enterprises to promote digital-driven innovation and performance management.