Abstract: Based on the resource-based view (RBV), this paper elucidates the internal mechanism through which digital transformation generates an “incremental and quality-enhancing” effect on firms’ collaborative innovation, and analyzes the moderating role of organizational inertia and absorptive capacity. Using panel data from Chinese listed manufacturing firms from 2007 to 2021, the hypotheses are empirically tested with a two-way fixed-effect OLS (ordinary least squares) model. The results show that digital transformation significantly promotes both the quantity and quality of firms’ collaborative innovation. Organizational inertia positively moderates the effect of digital transformation on both the quantity and quality of collaborative innovation. Absorptive capacity positively moderates the effect of digital transformation on the quality of collaborative innovation, but does not significantly affect the positive correlation between digital transformation and the quantity of collaborative innovation. Digital transformation contributes more to the quantity and quality of firm collaborative innovation in high-tech industries and state-owned enterprises than in non-high-tech industries and non-state-owned enterprises. The findings extend the literature by shifting the focus of digital transformation’s impact on innovation from intra-organizational processes to inter-organizational relationships, enriching the application of the resource-based view in the context of the new wave of technological revolution, and providing further support for organizational evolution theory’s positive perspective on organizational inertia.

Key words: digital transformation, collaborative innovation, resource-based view (RBV), organizational inertia, absorptive capacity

摘要： 本研究基于资源基础观，论述了数字化转型对企业合作创新“增量提质”效应的内在逻辑，并分析了组织惯性与吸收能力的调节作用。利用2007~2021年中国制造业上市企业数据，通过双向固定效应OLS模型进行实证检验。研究表明：数字化转型能够促进企业合作创新的“增量提质”；组织惯性正向调节数字化转型对企业合作创新数量和质量的促进作用；吸收能力正向调节数字化转型对企业合作创新质量的促进作用，但不会显著影响数字化转型与合作创新数量之间的正相关关系；与非高技术行业及非国有企业相比，数字化转型对高技术行业和国有企业合作创新的“增量提质”效应更强。研究结论在理论上将数字化转型对企业创新行为的影响由组织自身扩展到组织间关系，丰富了新一轮科技革命背景下资源基础观的研究内容与应用情境，进一步支持了组织演化理论对组织惯性的肯定观点。

关键词: 数字化转型, 合作创新, 资源基础观, 组织惯性, 吸收能力