Digital environment, collaborative network and corporate innovation performance: A machine-learning-based study

Abstract To explore the relationship between the digital environment, collaborative network and innovation performance, this study extract the inter-firm network from the co-patents of listed industrial companies in China, classify the collaborative contexts into four types based on the cooperation relationship, and examine the impacts of the dual environments on collaborative innovation performance by using machine learning method. A multi-dimensional framework is constructed to excavate the nonlinear combined effect of collaborative network, digital economy on firm innovation. The results indicate that the impact of digital economy and collaborative network on firm innovation varies across heterogeneous network embedding contexts. Network structure embedding features are the main factors to influence firm innovation in exploratory collaboration contexts. The digital environment is more likely to facilitate innovation performance in exploitative innovation and loosely collaborative contexts than in collaborative network embedding. The findings help companies make strategic decisions on partners selection and cooperation resources.