Corporate social responsibility as a driver of digital innovation in SMEs: the mediation effect of absorptive capacity Online publication date: Mon, 05-Dec-2022
by Christoph Stock; Stefan Hossinger; Arndt Werner; Sabrina Schell; Jonas Soluk
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing (IJEV), Vol. 14, No. 4/5, 2022
Abstract: Currently, digital innovation is one of the biggest challenges facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study analyses how SMEs can achieve higher levels of digital innovation despite their lack of resources. Using a dataset consisting of 520 German SMEs, we propose and test a model in which corporate social responsibility enables knowledge-sharing and supports SMEs in acquiring the resources needed for digital innovation development. As hypothesised, we found empirical evidence for a positive mediation effect in which absorptive capacity links corporate social responsibility and an SME's digital innovation output. In sum, this study helps to explain the relationship between corporate social responsibility and an SME's digital innovation, thus presenting far-reaching implications for SME research and the emerging scholarly debate on digital innovation in resource-constrained organisations.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing (IJEV):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook