What facilitates the innovation efficiency of medical device firms? A configurational study on the antecedent conditions using panel fsQCA
Yutao Yang, Hanwei Zhou, Zhi LiPurpose
Using panel data from 70 listed medical device companies in China, this study aims to apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The analysis identifies necessary conditions and configurations associated with high innovation efficiency, while also examining the temporal explanatory power of these configurations and their coverage differences across firms with and without politically connected chairmen.
Design/methodology/approach
This study investigates how combinations of technological, organizational, and environmental factors lead to high innovation efficiency in medical device firms. Specifically, it examines artificial intelligence, business model digitalization, human capital, ownership concentration, digital infrastructure, and centralized procurement under the TOE framework, aiming to reveal how these conditions jointly shape innovation efficiency rather than acting independently.
Findings
The results show that no single condition alone consistently explains high innovation efficiency; instead, technological, organizational, and environmental conditions work together. Five configurations are identified: environment-AI dual-driven, organization-environment dual-driven, technology-organization-environment triadic-driven, technology-organization dual-driven, and multi-factor synergy-driven pathways. AI has become increasingly important over time, while centralized procurement remains a salient environmental condition. Configuration coverage also differs across firms depending on chairmen’s political backgrounds.
Originality/value
This study contributes by extending innovation efficiency research from a net-effects perspective to a configurational and temporal perspective. It integrates the TOE framework with panel fsQCA to reveal how technological, organizational, and environmental conditions jointly shape high innovation efficiency in medical device firms. By focusing on listed Chinese medical device companies and incorporating centralized procurement as a policy-related condition, the study provides new insights into how digital technologies and healthcare policy environments interact to influence firm-level innovation outcomes.