Does the Strategy Improve Employee Innovativeness Understanding the Impact of Digital Business Strategy

Jul 16, 2026

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Digital business strategy (DBS) is examined as a driver of employee digital innovativeness. Using structural equation modeling with survey data from 572 employees in Japan, the study finds that DBS increases innovativeness directly and indirectly by enhancing digital literacy, which in turn strengthens digital technology self-efficacy. Results indicate that strategy does not automatically build confidence; capability development is a prerequisite, clarifying a human-centric mechanism linking firm strategy to individual innovation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

Strategic Change RESEARCH ARTICLE Does the Strategy Improve Employee Innovativeness? Understanding the Impact of Digital Business Strategy Tomoharu Mukaidaira1 | Hidenori Sato2 1Graduate School of Business Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo, Japan | 2Faculty of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo, Japan Correspondence: Tomoharu Mukaidaira ([s2340414@u.tsukuba.ac.jp](s2340414@u.tsukuba.ac.jp)) Received: 7 September 2025 | Revised: 22 February 2026 | Accepted: 6 March 2026 Keywords: digital business strategy | digital innovativeness | digital literacy | digital technology self-efficacy ABSTRACT Gaining competitive advantage via digital technology is a central theme in the digital age. To succeed, companies must formulatea digital business strategy (DBS) that integrates business and IT. Although employee creativity is essential for DBS-driven business model restructuring, the link remains under-researched. This study examines how DBS influences employee digital innovativeness, specifically mediating through digital literacy and digital technology self-efficacy. Using structural equation modeling on data from 572 employees in Japan, we analyze the pathway from strategy to innovation. The results indicate that DBS promotes digital innovativeness not just directly, but also through an indirect path where digital literacy enhances self-efficacy. The findings suggest that strategy alone does not build confidence; capability development is a prerequisite. This study advances management theory by identifying the behavioral mechanisms linking firm-level strategy to individual innovation, highlighting that for a DBSto be effective, managers must foster employees' digital capabilities to ensure value for both the firm and employees. 1 | Introduction Many companies are attempting to use digital technology to strengthen their competitive advantage, and the introduction of digital technologies and exploitation of the multifaceted opportunities they create have become important priorities for companies (Li et al. 2024; Scuotto et al. 2017; Sousa-Zomer et al. 2020) . In this context, the importance of strategic approaches that directly link digital technology to strengthen competitiveness and improve profitability is increasing, rather than simply using digital technology as a complementary element (Andersen et al. 2022) . In the past, IT/IS strategies were positioned as subordinate to business strategies (Teubner and Stockhinger 2020), but in recent years, the unique nature of digital technology has led to a demand for the integration of IT and business strategies (Matt et al. 2015; Vial 2019) . In the digital age, companies must formulate a clear digital business plan based on the premise of integrating business and IT strategies to succeed (Al-ma'aitah 2024) . However, the traditional concept of strategy cannot fully capture the transformation of business in the digital environment, a

Jul 16, 2026

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