Big data analytics capabilities (BDAC) are essential for firms to gain competitive advantages, given its crucial role in facilitating digital innovation. However, practice demonstrates that 59 % of firms fail to reap the expected benefits of big data, thus falling into a "digital dilemma". This study aims to explore how BDAC and improvisational capabilities interact to shape firm innovation. To achieve this research objective, we collected survey data from 228 Chinese firms and employed symmetric (partial least squares structural equation model, PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, fsQCA) methods under the dual perspectives of contingency and configuration. The SEM results show that BDAC positively influences both radical and incremental innovation, with improvisational capabilities mediating the relationships. Additionally, the fsQCA results show that BDAC (including tangible capabilities, intangible capabilities, and human skills), improvisational capabilities, and environmental dynamism (including competitive intensity and technological turbulence) jointly drive radical and incremental innovation. Importantly, we identified both generalized and specialized configurations for radical and incremental innovation. These findings offer valuable insights for firms in developing strategies to address the digital dilemma.
In the rapidly changing digital landscape, Innovation Labs have become pivotal agents of transformation, yet their application in tourism remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap through multiple case studies and an action research project focused on tourism. The findings reveal that Innovation Labs significantly boost digital innovation capacity, digital transformation, and business model innovation within tourism organizations. The proposed management framework offers practical guidance for effective implementation, emphasizing their potential to democratize technology and innovation, particularly for SMEs. These conclusions underscore the role of Innovation Labs as key drivers of innovation, providing valuable insights for both academics and practitioners.
Recombinant creation fosters breakthrough innovations in firms. This study focuses on a firm’s degree centrality in research collaboration network, exploring its direct effects on a firm’s recombinant creation capability, as well as how such effect is mediated by a firm’s recombinant distance in knowledge base and moderated by innovation competitive pressure. An empirical study using data from 517 listed Chinese companies confirms that a firm’s degree centrality in research collaboration network is positively associated with its recombinant creation capability; recombinant distance in knowledge base has a partially mediating role and the innovation competitive pressure plays a negative moderating role.

