ZHANG Hui, YANG Guang, XIONG Huanhuan
Digital transformation has become a critical pathway for enterprises to enhance their core competitiveness. However, identifying a transformation path that aligns with firms' specific conditions remains a major challenge for manufacturing enterprises. Focusing on the driving mechanisms underlying digital transformation in manufacturing firms, this study integrates six key conditional variables from two dimensions-internal organizational factors and external environmental factors-to construct a performance-driving factor model for digital transformation. Employing the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method, the study conducts a configurational analysis using data from listed manufacturing companies in Zhejiang Province. The findings indicate that: (1) no single internal or external driving factor constitutes a necessary condition for achieving high digital transformation performance; rather, successful digital transformation is more likely to result from the configurational alignment of multiple factors; (2) the configurations associated with high digital transformation performance can be classified into three categories: internally driven configurations, including the “digital technology-driven” and “peer pressure-driven” types; externally driven configurations, including the “environment-talent-attention-driven” and “attention-driven” types; and internally-externally synergistic configurations; and (3) compared with the other two pathways leading to high digital transformation performance, the internally-externally synergistic pathway demonstrates greater coverage. In contrast, low digital transformation performance primarily stems from the combined absence of multiple conditions, including digital attention allocation, policy support, and environmental dynamism. These findings provide theoretical insights for manufacturing enterprises seeking to overcome challenges in digital transformation and improve transformation performance.