Digitalization, analytics capabilities and digital leadership: how innovation capabilities and business intelligence mediate sustainable performance

Abstract

In today's business world, organizations that lack innovation capabilities face substantial barriers to achieving sustainable performance. In manufacturing firms operating in the sports industry, sustainable performance increasingly depends on a strong understanding of digitalization. Accordingly, this study examines the effects of digitalization, analytics capabilities (AC) and digital leadership (DL) on sports firms' sustainable performance (SFSP), with particular. Data for this study were collected through a structured survey administered to 339 managers and executives from Chinese sports companies. A purposive sampling technique was employed. Statistical software packages SPSS and SmartPLS were used for data analysis. In addition, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, regression analysis and moderation analysis were conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. The results indicate that digitalization, AC and DL have significant positive effects on innovation capabilities (IC) and business intelligence (BI). In turn, both IC and BI positively contribute to the sustainable performance of sports firms. These findings suggest that strengthening digital and analytical capabilities can enhance sustainable performance through improved innovation and intelligence mechanisms. The present study provides valuable implications for a range of stakeholders, including sports firms, technology developers, policymakers and practitioners. It assists these stakeholders in formulating and implementing strategies to enhance SFSP. Furthermore, the study underlines the nexus between digital transformation and sustainability by explaining how dynamic capabilities drive innovation and support sustainable performance in sports companies. The knowledge gained from this study is important to navigate the evolving challenges of sports companies in the manufacturing sector. Its significant contribution to the dynamic capability theory offers a fresh insight into how sports firms can develop, build and seize IC and business intelligence to improve SFSP, which is the uniqueness of our study.