Abstract: With the rapid advancement of digital technologies, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, robotics, 3D printing, cloud computing, and big data are increasingly being applied in the manufacturing industry, driving a trend toward digitalization and intelligence in the global manufacturing sector, represented by Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0. Digital innovation is also an important pathway for Chinese manufacturing firms to achieve transformation and upgrading. However, different from conventional technological innovation that occurs in relevant independent domains, digital technological innovation is a systemic and holistic endeavor. It imposes more stringent requirements on firms’ resources and capabilities, demands more substantial investment, and brings in higher innovation risks. According to the Behavioral Theory of the Firm, firms’ strategic choice is affected by their performance feedback. Based on the organizational ambidexterity view, radical innovation happens in new knowledge domains, distinct from existing technological trajectories, and thus needs higher resource investment, bearing higher risks. In contrast, incremental innovation involves improvement, refinement and extension in current knowledge domains, and hence requires lower resource investment, bearing lower risks. The more a firm pursues radical innovation with a certain amount of resources, the higher effectiveness of innovation it achieves. Due to their varying motivations and capabilities for innovation, firms with different levels of performance have different focuses in their strategic choices of digital innovation, either on the quantity of digital innovation or on the effectiveness of digital innovation. Furthermore, the allocation of resources for digital innovation is impacted by managers’ cognition of decision-making, and ownership concentration affects firms’ decision-making and implementation, the effectiveness of resource employment as well as the judgment of risks. Therefore, the decision-making process of digital innovation is influenced by ownership concentration. Based on the Behavioral Theory of the Firm and the organizational ambidexterity view, this study investigates the impacts of performance feedback on the quantity and effectiveness of digital innovation in manufacturing firms, as well as the moderating role of ownership concentration. Using a sample of manufacturing firms listed on the A-share markets of Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing from 2012 to 2023, we find that firms with high industry status place more emphasis on the quantity of digital innovation, while those with low industry status focus more on the effectiveness of digital innovation. Ownership concentration amplifies the emphasis on digital innovation quantity in firms with high industry status and diminishes the focus on digital innovation effectiveness in firms with low industry status. The conclusions of this study extend the research context of the Behavioral Theory of the Firm, by targeting digital innovation and dividing digital innovation into innovation quantity and innovation effectiveness. Also, we enrich the research on the antecedents of digital innovation, from the perspective of firms’ performance feedback, and explicate the influence of firms’ performance compared with the industry average on the strategic choice of digital innovation quantity or effectiveness. In addition, this study analyzes the moderating effects of ownership structure based on firms’ practice in the emerging context, and provides references for the digital innovation practices of Chinese manufacturing firms from the perspective of ownership structure.

摘要： 数字化创新是我国制造业企业实现转型升级的重要途径，不同绩效水平的企业由于创新的动机与能力不同，在数字化创新的战略选择上具有不同的侧重点，这一决策过程受到股权集中度的影响。本研究基于企业行为理论，研究了绩效反馈对制造业企业数字化创新数量和效能的影响，以及股权集中度的调节作用。选取2012-2023年沪深北A股上市的制造业企业作为样本，研究发现行业地位高的企业更注重数字化创新数量，行业地位低的企业更注重数字化创新效能；股权集中度增强行业地位高的企业对数字化创新数量的重视，削弱行业地位低的企业对数字化创新效能的重视。研究结论拓展了企业行为理论的研究情境，丰富了数字化创新的前因研究，从股权结构角度，为我国制造业企业进行数字化创新的实践提供了参考。