Are enterprises embedding in digital platform ecosystems greener? A resource curse view

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Business Management
• Innovation Studies

Background:

• Global climate mitigation necessitates corporate green innovation to overcome resource constraints.
• Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPEs) offer potential solutions for resource limitations in green innovation.
• The extent of enterprise embeddedness in DPEs and its impact on substantive green innovation requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of digital platform ecosystem (DPE) embeddedness depth on substantive green innovation.
• To explore the dual role of DPEs as both resource facilitators and potential inhibitors (resource curse) for green innovation.
• To identify the optimal level of DPE embeddedness for fostering substantive green innovation.

Main Methods:

• Empirical analysis using a sample of 15,828 Chinese industrial A-share listed firms (2010-2020).
• Data collection through crawling enterprise annual reports for DPE embedding frequencies and utilizing CSMAR and CNRDS databases.
• Application of a quadratic polynomial regression model to test the hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship.

Main Results:

• A significant inverted U-shaped effect was found between the depth of DPE embeddedness and substantive green innovation.
• The optimal depth of enterprise embeddedness in DPEs for promoting green innovation was identified as 0.66%.
• Family-owned equity weakens the inverted U-shaped effect, while state-owned equity enhances it.

Conclusions:

• Moderate embeddedness in DPEs promotes substantive green innovation, aligning with resource blessing perspectives.
• Excessive embeddedness in DPEs can hinder substantive green innovation, indicating a resource curse effect.
• Understanding the nuanced relationship between DPE embeddedness and green innovation is crucial for achieving climate goals.