Leveraging Digital Capabilities for Enhancing Innovation Performance of Cross-border E-commerce Enterprises

In the digital economy era, enterprise digitalization is the main source of sustainable competitiveness.Cross-border e-commerce (CBE) has become the new power of China's foreign trade growth.The in-depth integration of CBE and the manufacturing industry helps stimulate the vitality of traditional industry innovation.Following the logical chain, this paper examines how digital capabilities promote innovation performance of cross-border ecommerce enterprises through value co-creation mechanisms and under influence of network embeddedness (NE) of firms.Survey data from 626 small and medium manufacturing enterprises in China was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique.Results indicate digital capabilities enhance innovation outcomes both directly and indirectly via mediating effects of customer and supplier value co-creation.NE positively moderates these relationships such that highly embedded firms exhibit greater capability building through participation.The study provides guidance to cross-border ecommerce enterprises on how to strategically develop digital capabilities, strengthen network ties, and foster partnerships to boost innovation capacities.