ABSTRACT Gaining competitive advantage via digital technology is a central theme in the digital age. To succeed, companies must formulate a digital business strategy (DBS) that integrates business and IT. Although employee creativity is essential for DBS‐driven business model restructuring, the link remains under‐researched. This study examines how DBS influences employee digital innovativeness, specifically mediating through digital literacy and digital technology self‐efficacy. Using structural equation modeling on data from 572 employees in Japan, we analyze the pathway from strategy to innovation. The results indicate that DBS promotes digital innovativeness not just directly, but also through an indirect path where digital literacy enhances self‐efficacy. The findings suggest that strategy alone does not build confidence; capability development is a prerequisite. This study advances management theory by identifying the behavioral mechanisms linking firm‐level strategy to individual innovation, highlighting that for a DBS to be effective, managers must foster employees' digital capabilities to ensure value for both the firm and employees.

ABSTRACT This systematic review examines how H. Igor Ansoff's theoretical contributions have evolved in contemporary strategic management through cluster analysis of 116 publications (1968–2024). Four distinct research clusters were identified, revealing that Ansoff's legacy has shifted from theoretical foundations to pedagogical applications and practical case studies. The predominance of conceptual over empirical studies highlights a gap between educational use and real‐world validation. While the Ansoff Matrix remains widely applied, its structured logic faces challenges in dynamic digital environments, requiring integration with emergent strategy models. This research conceptualizes Ansoff's trajectory as a multidimensional evolution from conceptual innovation to educational institutionalization, offering a framework for understanding how strategic theories mature over time. It underscores the enduring value of structured strategic tools while calling attention to the need for empirical testing and digital adaptability.

ABSTRACT There is growing evidence that a preponderance of resilience indicators discussed in management scholarship is often developed with limited consideration of the context in which micro‐and‐small‐service enterprises (MSSEs) operate. Given their strategic relevance to developing economies, it thus becomes necessary to understand the meaning of resilience for MSSEs operating in resource‐constrained environments. Drawing on a sample of 219 MSSEs, we tested five resilience indicators using hierarchical regression models. Results show that personal network (PN), resource slack (RS), creative problem‐solving (CPS), and adaptive capacity (AC) all had significant positive effects on organizational resilience (OR), while planning and crisis readiness (PCR) lacked confirmatory validity as a resilience indicator. A key theoretical contribution in this study is the emergence of our four‐dimensional resilience model that more closely captures the nature and dynamics of small‐scale venturing in under‐resourced business landscapes. We discussed the implications of these findings for theory, policy, and practice.

ABSTRACTThis study investigates how strategic renewal, driven by the interaction among technological, marketing, and organizational innovation, enhances firms' economic performance. Using a panel dataset of 8871 Spanish firms covering the period 2009–2016, we provide empirical evidence on the different effects of each type of innovation and their interdependencies. The results reveal that both technological and organizational innovation have a direct and positive influence on economic performance, whereas marketing innovation contributes indirectly through its effect on technological innovation. Our study also shows human capital to be a strategic enabler in maximizing the benefits of innovation for economic performance—particularly in firms with lower levels of innovation. The analysis of the results suggests that, as firms' level of innovation increases, it becomes more difficult to capitalize on improvements in human capital for the economic exploitation of innovation. By focusing on Spain—a country positioned at an intermediate level of innovation, and often overlooked in academic discourse on innovation leaders or laggards—this study sheds light on the underexplored dynamics of innovation in moderately innovative economies.

ABSTRACT Self‐affirmation interventions (SAIs) have garnered increasing interest from both practitioners and scholars due to their potential to help working adults cope with uncertainty and job insecurity. This interest is particularly relevant for entrepreneurs, who frequently face high levels of uncertainty and lack the organizational support structures. Despite this growing attention, the underlying mechanisms through which SAIs affect coping with insecurities remain largely unexplored, as most research uses experimental settings and does not account for individuals' responses. This study follows the effectuation logic to examine how entrepreneurs perceive targeted SAIs and how these interventions support coping with entrepreneurial insecurity. We employed a qualitative research design, combining data from a two‐month targeted SAI with multiple sources, including diaries, interviews, and observations, as well as a written Delphi survey. In total, we analyzed data from 23 entrepreneurs and 12 coaching experts. Our findings suggest a process model in which targeted SAIs facilitate cognitive job crafting, enhance psychological capital, and foster task, social, and affordance crafting. Additionally, mindfulness and psychological safety emerged as key contextual factors influencing the effectiveness of SAIs in the intervention design. At the same time, economic stress was found to mitigate the beneficial impact of these factors. These findings offer valuable insights into individual‐level strategies for supporting entrepreneurs' effectuation‐oriented coping mechanisms. Future research should build on these insights by empirically testing the identified concepts and relationships.

ABSTRACT The deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in developing countries is increasingly seen as a powerful driver of Frugal Innovation (FI), offering the potential to address pressing social and environmental issues. However, this convergence of sophisticated, high‐cost technology with resource‐constrained environments represents a significant strategic change for organizations, creating inherent paradoxical tensions that are not yet well understood. This study addresses this gap by exploring the paradoxical tensions that emerge when AI enables FI. Using paradox theory as an analytical lens, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 11 case studies of organizations implementing AI‐driven frugal innovations across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and transport. Our findings reveal a typology of performing (e.g., cost vs. quality), organizing (e.g., autonomy vs. coordination), and learning (e.g., local needs vs. global expertise) tensions, as well as several combined paradoxes. Theoretically, this research extends paradox theory to the novel context of high‐tech frugal innovation. Practically, it provides managers with a framework for diagnosing challenges and adopting a “both/and” mindset for leading the strategic change required to successfully implement AI in resource‐scarce settings.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the motivations driving teacher‐researchers (TRs) to develop digital strategies using professional social networks (PSNs) within the evolving landscape of higher education. While previous research emphasizes PSNs as tools for scholarly communication and networking, there is limited understanding of how TRs leverage these platforms to navigate career challenges, enhance visibility, and mitigate dissatisfaction with institutional environments. Addressing this gap, this study adopts a quantitative approach, analyzing survey responses from 170 TRs across French universities, business schools, and engineering schools. Using logistic regression analysis, the study examines the interplay between organizational factors, career plateauing, and digital engagement. Findings reveal that digital strategies serve dual purposes: as tools for professional advancement and as coping mechanisms for institutional shortcomings, such as lack of recognition and career stagnation. The study contributes to the literature on digital strategies in academia and offers recommendations for higher education institutions to enhance faculty support, career development, and organizational fairness.

ABSTRACT A significant body of existing research focuses on acquisitions and how organizations use them in order to change and grow quickly. While some research has examined the criteria organizations use to select targets for acquisitions, both the context of healthcare and the role of the quality of organizational services have not been well examined. This study adds to the burgeoning work on acquisition target selection with an examination of the role that quality, an important organizational capability, plays in the target selection process. We examine the relationship between quality, operationalized as patient readmission and mortality rates and patient satisfaction, and the likelihood that a hospital will be acquired. We find evidence that strongly supports our hypotheses that higher quality is positively related to acquisition. Our results suggest that readmission and mortality rates are significantly lower for hospitals that are acquired than for those that are not.

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the impact of growth rates on analyst recommendations for European firms that underwent an IPO between 2015 and 2020. Drawing from signaling theory, which posits that IPO firms emit signals to the market through their growth rates, we explore how growth in employment and sales influences analysts, who play a key role as information intermediaries. Our findings reveal that analysts prefer continuous growth in employees when making their recommendations, though the impact is modest. However, an inverted U‐shaped relationship indicates that excessive sales growth negatively impacts recommendations, except in high technology industries where consistent growth is anticipated and valued. For high technology firms, high growth in employment is positively associated with analyst recommendations, with a significant economic impact. These results highlight the ways in which growth metrics signal IPO firm quality to analysts, particularly in the context of high technology industries.

ABSTRACTThis study examines the organizational change process driven by adopting digital technologies in manufacturing. Using the Context‐Mechanism‐Outcome (CMO) framework and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we analyzed 46 cases from the Chinese manufacturing sector. Our focus was on the internal mechanisms and conditions influencing digital transformation (DT). The findings reveal three distinct DT configuration models: process transformation, large enterprise DT, and platform‐based transformation. Each model highlights unique organizational contexts, constraints, and digital leveraging strategies. These models demonstrate how different contextual factors shape DT approaches, providing insights into how organizations navigate technological transitions. By reframing DT as a dynamic and context‐sensitive process, the study illustrates how traditional manufacturing practices are disrupted and new models are developed. Our findings emphasize aligning DT strategies with organizational goals to enhance implementation success. This research offers actionable guidance for managers, helping them address DT challenges through context‐specific strategies.