Technical founders, digital transformation and corporate technological innovation empirical evidence from listed companies in China’s STAR market

Abstract

Technology entrepreneurship and corporate innovation are important for the development of indigenous innovation. In the digital age, founders are subject to fundamental changes in their strategy choices, which in turn affect corporate innovation performance. This paper aims to explore the strategic choices adopted by technical founders of listed companies in China’s STAR market to reap the rewards of innovation in a digital context. Based on the annual reports of 124 listed companies in China’s STAR Market, this paper applies machine learning methods to quantify digital transformation of enterprises, and empirically analyzes the relationship between technical founders and innovation performance by constructing a moderated mediating model.