Antecedent configuration pathways for manufacturing-enterprise digital servitization: Based on a technology-organization-environment theoretical framework

Abstract

The expeditious advancement and elevation of the manufacturing industry’s transformation and upgrading represent pivotal strides for China in its ascent toward the upper echelons of the global manufacturing value chain. Currently, China’s manufacturing-industry transformation faces the dual-lag quandary of digitalization and servitization. The notion of digital servitization elucidates the interdependent relationship between digitalization and servitization, unveiling the mechanisms underlying the formation of digital servitization. This holds significant implications for advancing the comprehension of digitalization and servitization and, crucially, facilitates the acceleration of China’s manufacturing sector transitioning from production-centric to service-centric paradigms. Harnessing the technology-organization-environment (TOE) theoretical framework, we constructed a model elucidating the driving factors underpinning manufacturing digital servitization. By employing the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we explored strategic decisions and path dependencies in the transformation of manufacturing digital servitization, offering valuable insights to foster China’s manufacturing sector in its digital-servitization journey. The following findings were obtained. (1) A singular condition was insufficient as a prerequisite for manufacturing digital servitization and necessitated the coordinated alignment of multiple variables. (2) Three pathways existed for achieving manufacturing digital servitization: TOE, organization-environment collaborative-oriented, and technology-organization collaborative-oriented. (3) The progression of manufacturing digital servitization resulted from the collective impact of numerous factors, exhibiting a characteristic of different paths leading to the same destination. Various manufacturing enterprises pursued distinct trajectories to achieve digital servitization, contingent upon their unique circumstances. These findings have the potential to provide valuable insights for effectively fostering manufacturing digital servitization.