When digital meets human: How organizational digital capability promotes service innovation via cognitive flexibility and empowering leadership

Abstract

In the rapidly evolving educational training sector, organizations are increasingly investing in digital technologies to support service innovation. However, the relationship between these investments and employee behavior remains underexplored. This study investigates how organizational digital capability is associated with employees' service innovation behavior (SIB), considering the potential mediating role of cognitive flexibility and the moderating effect of empowering leadership. Grounded in the conservation of resources (COR) theory, data were collected from 283 paired leader-employee surveys across 25 education and training institutions in Guangxi, China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for analysis. The results suggest a positive relationship between organizational digital capability and SIB, although the effect size is small. Cognitive flexibility partially mediates the relationship between organizational digital capability and SIB. Additionally, empowering leadership strengthens the influence of digital capability on cognitive flexibility, which in turn facilitates SIB. These findings underscore the importance of not only digital resources but also leadership practices and cognitive flexibility in fostering service innovation. The study contributes to the literature by offering insights into the mechanisms linking digital transformation to service innovation, providing practical implications for organizations aiming to enhance service innovation through digital resources and leadership support.

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