Digital orientation, digital capability, and organisational performance in an emerging African digital ecosystem: the mediating role of digital innovation, the moderating role of digital organisational culture, and the absorptive capacity of context

Purpose – This study examines the relationship between digital orientation, digital capability, digital innovation, and organisational performance among 146 IT SMEs in Cameroon. It extends Khin and Ho's (2018) model by introducing digital organisational culture as a moderator and develops the institutional absorption thesis to explain why resource–innovation conversion mechanisms operate differently in African digital ecosystems characterised by institutional voids, infrastructural scarcity, and founder-centric governance. Design/methodology/approach – Cross-sectional survey data were analysed using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping. CMV was assessed through Harman's test and the full collinearity VIF approach (Kock, 2015). CFA was conducted for the culture scale. Post-hoc model comparison tested culture as direct antecedent, mediator, and moderator. Findings – Digital orientation (β = 0.309) and digital capability (β = 0.389) are positively associated with digital innovation. Digital innovation mediates both antecedents' association with performance. Culture does not moderate but operates as a direct antecedent, theorised through founder-embedded culture in micro-enterprises. Originality/value – Three contributions: the institutional absorption thesis explaining context-specific mechanisms (capability primacy, infrastructure attenuation, founder-culture fusion); formal demonstration that culture functions as antecedent rather than moderator; first methodologically rigorous empirical test of the orientation–capability–innovation–performance chain in Sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords Digital innovation, Digital orientation, Digital capability, Digital organisational culture, SMEs, Cameroon, PLS-SEM, Institutional voids