A Narrative Review on the Impacts of Digital Literacy and Social Capital on the Innovation Performance of Cultural Enterprises

Amid the rapid global growth of the cultural and creative economy, China’s cultural industry has emerged as a key driver of regional economic transformation, fueled by policy support, digital technology, and consumption upgrades. Small and micro cultural enterprises, now accounting for over 84% of the sector, play a critical role in cultural innovation but face persistent structural challenges that hinder their innovation performance. This narrative review, based on Web of Science and Scopus literature, integrates Resource-Based Theory and Social Network Theory to propose a “Resource-Network-Platform” framework, revealing how digital literacy and social capital dynamically interact to enhance innovation performance within cultural industry clusters. Based on the dual logics of resources and networks, this study proposed an integrative theoretical model of innovation in SMEs of cultural enterprises so as to build foundation for future empirical studies. Findings highlight a dynamic coupling mechanism between internal capabilities and external networks, offering theoretical insights and practical guidance for cluster governance, platform development, and enterprise digital capacity building, while paving the way for cross-theoretical research in cultural industries. Unlike previous studies solely stand from a single perspective, this study emphasizes the dynamic, systemic value of theoretical intersections in explaining innovation mechanisms in SMEs.