From Entrepreneurial Orientation to Enterprise Innovation Performance: A Chain-Mediation Model in Growth-Oriented Enterprises

This research investigates how entrepreneurial orientation influences innovation performance in growth-oriented enterprises, examining the sequential chain-mediating roles of enterprise digitalization and dynamic capabilities. Employing panel data from 254 firms listed on China’s Growth Enterprise Market from 2015 to 2023, we test our hypotheses using a series of regression models and an instrumental variable approach to address endogeneity. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial orientation has a direct and positive effect on innovation performance. This relationship is indirectly channeled through two key pathways: enterprise digitalization, which acts as the primary mediator, and dynamic capabilities, which serves as a secondary mediator. Crucially, the sequential chain-mediation effect, while statistically significant, is substantively weak, revealing a “weak coupling” between firms’ digital investments and the subsequent development of their organizational agility. This research contributes by proposing and empirically validating a more sophisticated, sequential model of innovation and offers strategic insights by identifying a critical bottleneck in the innovation value chain for firms in the digital era.