Investigating the effects of stakeholder collaboration strategies on risk prevention performance in a digital innovation ecosystem
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-12-2021-0805 |
| Published date | 31 May 2022 |
| Date | 31 May 2022 |
| Pages | 2045-2071 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
| Author | Ying Li,Yating Wang,Lei Wang,Jingci Xie |
Investigating the effects
of stakeholder collaboration
strategies on risk prevention
performance in a digital
innovation ecosystem
Ying Li, Yating Wang, Lei Wang and Jingci Xie
School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Abstract
Purpose –The risks associated with digital innovation increasingly challenge value co-creation among
stakeholders within the innovation ecosystem. Stakeholder collaboration is helpful in preventing risk
occurrence. This study intends to explore the effects of different stakeholder collaboration strategies on risk
prevention performance in a digital innovation ecosystem context.
Design/methodology/approach –A systematic literature analysis was first conducted to identify risk
factors of digital innovation based on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework. Then, a
bidimensional network model was constructed to visualize the collaborative relationships among stakeholders
and the identified risks by focusing on a digital innovation case. The social network analysis method was
applied to design stakeholder collaboration strategies from the ego and global network perspectives, and a
simulation approach was conducted to evaluate the effects of the strategies on risk prevention performance.
Findings–The results validate the positive effect of stakeholder collaboration on risk prevention performance
and reveal the important role of network reachability in formulating collaboration strategies. The strategy of
strong–strong collaboration strategy can best enhance risk prevention performance like a “Matthew effect”in
the digital innovation ecosystem.
Originality/value –First, risk identification based on the TOE framework provides a systematic listof risk
factors for future digital innovation risk management research. Second, this study designs stakeholder
collaboration strategiesfrom a network perspective to enhance the understanding of the network status of each
stakeholder and the network structure of the digital innovation ecosystem. Third, the simulation results reveal
the effects of different collaboration strategies on risk prevention performance.
Keywords Digital innovation, Stakeholder collaboration, Risk prevention performance, Social network
analysis, Simulation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Emerging digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud
computing and the Internet of Things, have enabled traditional companies to radically
transform their business operations and management processes to cope with the increasingly
dynamic environment (Pershina et al., 2019). Recently, the black swan events of the COVID-19
pandemic have accelerated the digitalization processes of such companies (Kutnjak, 2021).
Movement restrictions, lockdown periods and social distancing caused by the pandemic have
made it a requirement for organizations to transform their business activities digitally (Lee
and Trimi, 2021;Papadonikolaki et al., 2019). According to a new McKinsey global survey
from 2020, companies in all sectors and regions have increased their proportions of digital or
digitally enhanced products and their rates of digitalization for supply chain interactions.
The effects of
stakeholder
collaboration
2045
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant
No. 71902102 and 71772106, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under Grant No. 2018M630791, and
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province under Grant No. ZR202102240063.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
Received 31 December 2021
Revised 28 March 2022
22 April 2022
Accepted 5 May 2022
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 122 No. 9, 2022
pp. 2045-2071
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-12-2021-0805
Modern companies are driven to focus on digital innovation efforts to retain sustainable
competitive advantages.
Digital innovation refers to the process of creating novel products, services, processes and
business models through the combination of information, computing, communication and
connectivity technologies (Nambisan et al., 2017;Vial, 2019). Companies that engage in digital
innovation activities rely not only on internal coordination among top management,
information technology (IT) and other functional departments (Hadjielias et al., 2021) but also
on external interactions with technology service providers, suppliers, customers and other
partners (Wang, 2021). Scholars have explored digital innovation as a complex system of
interdependent and coevolving organizations from an ecosystem perspective (Chae, 2019;
Walrave et al., 2018). Within a digital innovation ecosystem, diverse stakeholders, such as
customers, suppliers and complementors, provide heterogeneous and complementary
offerings toward an integrated value proposition, and values are subsequently created
through coordination, cooperation and even competition (Beltagui et al., 2020;Suseno et al.,
2018;Wang, 2021).
Nevertheless, there are unprecedented challenges involved in a digital innovation
ecosystem (Sklyar et al., 2019;Lokuge et al., 2019). Digital innovation is highly complex due to
the integration of digital expertise with diverse specialized knowledge and the involvement of
various stakeholders (Pershina et al., 2019;Yoo et al., 2012). Meanwhile, digital innovation
shows convergence and thus organizational boundaries become ambiguous within the
ecosystem (Pershina et al., 2019;Nambisan et al., 2017). The malleable, editable, open and
transferable characteristics of digital technologies make digital innovation uncontrollable,
that is, the scale and scope can be easily expanded by various stakeholders (Beltagui et al.,
2020;Nambisan et al., 2017). On the whole, the nature of complexity, ambiguity, uncertainty
and dynamism (Lee and Trimi, 2021;Pershina et al., 2019;Nambisan et al., 2017) embedded in
digital innovation ecosystems leads to the occurrence of various risks, which are regarded as
the root cause of many digital innovation failures. Thus, it is necessary for the success of
digital innovation to manage risk factors, first by identifying them.
Previous studies have investigated risks related to digital innovation activities, such as
information safety risks (Anderson and Agarwal, 2011;Jean et al., 2020), intellectual property
risks, strategic risks (Xue, 2014) and transactional risks (Xue et al., 2013). However, such
studies have mainly focused on a particular risk from a single perspective instead of a
systematic ecosystem perspective, and they therefore provide only limited information to
understand risk factors. In contrast to traditional innovation, digital innovation activities
within the ecosystem are more easily exposed to technological, orga nizational and
environmental risks (Abrell et al., 2016;Jean et al., 2020;Maruping et al., 2019;Pershina
et al., 2019). Acknowledged as one of the most important threats, technological risks mainly
originate from the considerably increasing complexity of digital technologies (Maruping
et al., 2019). Digital technologies provide the infrastructure for innovation ecosystem, but
most of them have not reached a level of maturity and lack conformity to industry-specific
standards (Oliveira et al., 2014). In addition, compatibility, reliability, security and after-sales
technical support and maintenance services in the context of digital technology application
are also major challenges (Jean et al., 2020). Furthermore, an ecosystem is composed of
individual stakeholders and their interrelationships (Li et al., 2020;Suseno et al., 2018). Digital
innovation does not occur in vacuum and is always accompanied by organizational changes
(Kohli and Melville, 2019). Organizational risks include resistance to digital-enabled
organizational change, incompatibility with existing organizational structures and the
allocation of resource and responsibility among stakeholders (Abrell et al., 2016;Pershina
et al., 2019;Wang et al., 2017). Finally, the stakeholders’value creation in a digital innovation
ecosystem can be impacted by external environmental factors (such as competitor pressure,
market and policy volatility) (Jean et al., 2020). Therefore, it is imperative to systematically
IMDS
122,9
2046
To continue reading
Request your trial