Digital transformation capabilities and innovation performance in skating manufacturing: a hybrid SEM–ANN analysis

Abstract

Digital upgrading in specialized manufacturing sectors is associated with firms’ development of flexible IT infrastructure, agile response capability, system integration, and strategic digital vision. However, limited empirical modelling has examined how these digital manufacturing capabilities are associated with innovation performance in niche equipment manufacturing contexts. This study developed a hybrid SEM-ANN model to examine configurations of digital transformation capabilities among skating equipment manufacturing firms in Guangdong and Zhejiang, China. Survey data from 383 senior and middle managers were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling and artificial neural network analysis. The SEM results showed that Digitalization Vision (β = 0.039, p = 0.026), IT Flexibility (β = 0.070, p = 0.003), and IT Agility (β = 0.187, p = 0.001) were positively and indirectly associated with perceived innovation performance through Business Model Innovation. IT Integration showed a statistically significant but negative indirect association (β = −0.030, p = 0.049), indicating that system integration did not support the predicted positive indirect pathway. The model explained 66.6% of the variance in Business Model Innovation and 19.0% of the variance in perceived innovation performance. The ANN analysis identified IT Flexibility as the strongest predictor of innovation performance, followed by Digitalization Vision and IT Agility, with normalized importance values of 100%, 73.7%, and 41.8%, respectively. These findings provide context-specific evidence on how digital transformation capabilities are associated with innovation performance among surveyed firms in the skating equipment manufacturing sector in Guangdong and Zhejiang.