A Configurational Analysis of Risk-Taking in Intelligent Manufacturing Firms Under Multiple Institutional Logics

Corporate risk-taking, crucial for sustainable development, is shaped by the interplay of multiple institutional logics. However, existing research lacks a systematic understanding of how government, market, and technology logics collectively drive corporate risk-taking. This study addresses this gap by employing fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis on data from Chinese intelligent manufacturing firms to explore the configurational pathways leading to high risk-taking. Our analysis reveals three distinct pathways: (1) An innovation-driven transformation pathway, characterized by a strong synergy between government and technology logics, with market logic playing a supplementary role. (2) A green transformation pathway, where government logic dominates, supported by market and technology logics in a hierarchical structure. (3) A resource synergy pathway, marked by the high-level integration of all three logics for strategic breakthroughs. Theoretically, this study advances institutional theory by developing an integrative framework that moves beyond a single-logic perspective, revealing the synergistic and substitutive relationships among multiple logics. Practically, our findings provide managers with a configurational roadmap for strategically aligning with institutional forces to enhance risk-taking capacity.