The possession of digital marketing capabilities serves as a crucial factor in establishing a competitive advantage among hotels. Despite receiving increasing attention from both practitioners and scholars, there has been a lack of comprehensive scholarly investigation of the direct and indirect impact of digital marketing capabilities on service innovation in the hospitality industry. This paper aims to address this research gap by exploring the mediating role of marketing agility in the link between digital marketing capabilities and service innovation in the context of hospitality. It also explores the mechanism by which digital marketing capabilities may be connected to service innovation. Data were collected from managers using a unique multisource dataset gathered at two points in time. Findings revealed that digital marketing capabilities has a significant direct and indirect impact on service innovation. Marketing agility mediates the link between digital marketing capabilities and service innovation. Furthermore, results of conditional effects revealed that the impact of DMCs on service innovation is more pronounced when the values of technological dynamism and structural flux are higher. Moreover, the post hoc analysis revealed that the relationship between digital marketing capabilities and service innovation doesn’t vary between countries. Our study offers meaningful implications for theory and practice. • Examines how digital marketing capabilities drive service innovation. • Tests marketing agility as a mediator in the DMC–innovation link. • Builds on the dynamic capabilities perspective. • Finds DMCs enhance both agility and service innovation. • Shows agility transmits DMC effects to innovation outcomes.
Figueiredo et al. (2026) studied this question.