Digital Transformation and Disruptive Technovation:Evidence from Patent Networks and the SBERT Model
Disruptive technovation has emerged as a pivotal driver for sustained economic growth and remains a primary focus within academic and policy circles.While recent studies have underscored the role of digital transformation in enhancing firms'innovation capabilities,empirical analyses specifically linking digital transformation to disruptive technovation remain limited.Existing literature has concentrated on identifying disruptive technovation by assessing the breakthrough level of patents or their influence on future technological pathways,yet such methodologies often fail to capture the multidimensional nature of disruptive technovation.Several qualitative studies have advanced understanding by exploring the phases and drivers of disruptive technovation,but they frequently overlook the mechanisms through which digital transformation supports and catalyzes disruptive innovation.Moreover,while there is acknowledgment of the economic impact of disruptive technovation,few studies have comprehensively examined how digital transformation and disruptive innovation jointly reshape the innovation ecosystem.This study addresses these research gaps by employing a sample of listed firms in China from 2008 to 2020.This paper develops an innovative strategy for identifying disruptive technovation,characterizing patents with bidirectional properties—those that are both breakthroughs over existing technologies and influential in shaping future technological trajectories—as instances of disruptive technovation.Leveraging the SBERT model and patent network data,this paper creates robust metrics for measuring disruptive technovation.The results reveal that digital transformation significantly enhances firms'capacity for disruptive technovation primarily through mechanisms of market restructuring and governance standardization.The heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effects of digital transformation on disruptive technovation are particularly pronounced in state-owned enterprises(SOEs),firms within strategic emerging industries,and those operating in highly competitive environments.Further exploration highlights that disruptive technovation not only influences firms'R&D resource allocation by boosting quality and efficiency but also curbs manipulative R&D practices and fosters continuous innovation,driving new quality productive forces.This paper makes several key contributions to existing literature.Methodologically,this paper advances the measurement of disruptive technovation by integrating internal technological features derived from patent text data with external characteristics from patent citation networks,providing a comprehensive framework that captures the dual-directional impact of innovation.Compared to existing metrics such as the CD—Index,this approach enables a nuanced assessment of knowledge absorption across patents,covering both forward and backward knowledge flows.Mechanistically,this paper elucidates how digital transformation acts as an enabler for disruptive technovation through market reshaping and governance standardization,which is confirmed by market data,supply chain networks,and financial indicators.This mechanism analysis demonstrates the transformative potential of digital capabilities to reshape market structures and enhance governance,fostering disruptive technovation.The findings offer empirical support for the synergistic relation between digital transformation and disruptive technovation,highlighting how this interaction promotes high-quality,efficient innovation and continuous technological advancement.This paper enriches the discourse on innovation strategy and provides critical insights for optimizing the innovation environment and advancing industrial modernization.
digital transformationdisruptive technovationpatent networksSBERT model
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
