Digital green value co-creation behavior, digital green network embedding and digital green innovation performance: moderating effects of digital green network fragmentation

The study addresses how digital green value co-creation behavior (DGVCB) influences digital green innovation performance (DGIP) within business ecosystems shaped by the digital economy. Motivated by the shift from production-led to demand-led, service-dominant logic, and the increasing role of digital technologies in green transformation, the paper examines the mechanisms through which digital green network embedding (DGNE) and digital green network fragmentation (DGNF) affect this relationship. The context includes intensified platform competition, reconstruction of value chains, frequent knowledge flows, and the need to satisfy customer value propositions through demand-side innovation. The research posits and tests the following hypotheses: (H1) DGVCB positively affects DGIP; (H2) DGNE positively affects DGIP; (H3) DGVCB positively affects DGNE; (H4) DGNE mediates the relationship between DGVCB and DGIP; (H5) DGNF positively moderates the relationship between DGVCB and DGNE; (H6) DGNF positively moderates the relationship between DGVCB and DGIP. The purpose is to clarify how co-creation behaviors and network positions contribute to innovation outcomes and to inform ecosystem governance and firm cooperation strategies.

The paper situates DGVCB within service-dominant logic, emphasizing dialogue, access, risk mitigation, and transparency as mechanisms that enable firms to respond to demand-side value propositions. It highlights the business ecosystem as a networked organizational form integrating R&D and commercialization via digital green technologies, facilitating rapid information exchange between production and consumption ecosystems and enabling penetration of long-tail markets. Prior work suggests that network embeddedness (relational and structural) shapes firms’ ecological status and access to key information and resources, while network fragmentation (relational and status-based) can create subgroups characterized by trust and intensive knowledge exchange. Such fragmentation may reduce search and transfer costs for innovation resources and stimulate innovation through a perceived crisis and specialization. The literature indicates that higher DGNE can enhance firms’ discourse power, niche position, and ability to master core technologies, thereby improving innovation performance; conversely, DGNF can both challenge and strengthen co-creation processes by structuring cooperation within subgroups.

Design and data: The study uses a survey-based quantitative design with 326 valid firm-level questionnaires. Measures use 7-point Likert scales (1 = very inconsistent to 7 = very consistent). Variables: DGVCB is measured using the DART framework (dialogue, access, risk mitigation, transparency). DGNE is operationalized with two dimensions: relational embedding and structural embedding. DGNF is measured via relational fragmentation and status fragmentation. DGIP is measured across four dimensions: proportion of new product output value in total sales, customer satisfaction, technology content in products, and market share of new products. Control variables include enterprise age, enterprise nature, and enterprise scale, acknowledging their potential influence on DGVCB, DGNE, and DGIP. Analysis: The study conducts confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess measurement validity and uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to test main and mediating effects; regression-based analyses are used for hypothesis testing, including moderation and mediation analyses. Model fit for the SEM indicates acceptable to good fit (e.g., χ² = 131.946, df = 48, χ²/df = 2.749, RMSEA = 0.073, TLI = 0.980, CFI = 0.985, GFI = 0.936, AGFI = 0.896, NFI = 0.977, IFI = 0.985, RFI = 0.969). Questionnaire items covered firm demographics and specific indicators for the constructs (see Table 1).

- Correlational evidence shows significant positive associations: DGVCB with DGIP (r = 0.551) and DGVCB with DGNE (r = 0.372). - SEM results indicate: (H1) DGVCB significantly and positively affects DGIP (p < 0.01); (H2) DGNE significantly and positively affects DGIP (p < 0.05); (H3) DGVCB significantly and positively affects DGNE (p < 0.01). - Mediation: DGNE partially mediates the relationship between DGVCB and DGIP (p < 0.01), supporting H4. - Moderation: Digital green network fragmentation (DGNF) plays a positive moderating role between DGVCB and DGIP, indicating that fragmentation strengthens the impact of co-creation behavior on innovation performance. - Measurement model quality is supported by CFA results that favor the benchmark multifactor model over alternative models; structural model fit indices are within acceptable thresholds, indicating overall good model fit.

Findings demonstrate that firms engaging in digital green value co-creation achieve higher innovation performance, both directly and by improving their embeddedness within digital green networks. DGNE serves as a conduit through which co-creation activities translate into enhanced access to key resources, information, and relational advantages, thereby boosting DGIP. The positive moderating role of DGNF on the DGVCB–DGIP link suggests that, within fragmented networks characterized by cohesive subgroups and higher trust, co-creation efforts are more effective at leveraging specialized knowledge and accelerating response to market demands. These results support a demand-side, service-dominant view of innovation in business ecosystems and underscore the strategic importance of cultivating relational and structural embeddedness while acknowledging the productive aspects of network fragmentation.

The study contributes by clarifying the mechanisms linking digital green value co-creation behavior to digital green innovation performance, identifying digital green network embedding as a partial mediator and digital green network fragmentation as a positive boundary condition enhancing the co-creation–performance link. The results provide theoretical guidance for ecosystem governance and practical implications for firms to strengthen dialogue mechanisms, transparency, and risk-sharing to improve their network position and innovation outcomes.