Configuration Paths of Enterprise Digital Innovation Driven by Digital Technology Affordance: A Dynamic QCA Analysis Based on the TOE Framework

Amid the expansive evolution of the digital economy and the emergence of enhanced productivity paradigms, exploring the ways in which digital technology affordance propels corporate digital innovation via multifaceted cooperative routes is essential for reconfiguring industrial ecosystems, securing digital market advantages, and promoting superior advancement. This investigation employs the TOE model, merging fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with regression analysis. Using data from 2206 listed manufacturing companies from the A-share exchanges (2010–2023), it identifies multiple antecedent configuration pathways of digital technology affordance and examines their differential impacts on enterprise digital innovation. Key findings include the following: (1) no solitary factor serves as an obligatory prerequisite for high-quality digital technology affordance. (2) Four configuration pathways were identified: technology-organization-environment tripartite-propelled, technology-organization collaborative-propelled, technology-environment collaborative-propelled, and organization-environment collaborative-propelled variants. (3) The influence of digital technology affordance on digital innovation shows conditional dependence. Under the ternary-driven “technology-organization-environment” or synergy-driven “technology-organization” configurations, and absent conflicting enterprise goals, digital technology affordance promotes digital product innovation. Supported by collaborative configurations of technological investment, digital infrastructure, highly educated talent, institutional measures, and public service efficiency, it fosters digital process innovation. However, isolated technological investment, employees’ educational attainment, and institutional measures inhibit business model innovation. Other configurations lack significant impacts on digital business model innovation. This study elucidates the generation mechanism of digital technology affordance using configuration theory, offering empirical insights for managers to enhance digital innovation and drive high-quality economic development. The study enhances the theoretical depth by exploring technological foundations of digital technologies and addressing generalizability through framework adaptations for global contexts.