Journal of Management and Business Innovation

This issue brings together eight articles examining digital transformation, innovation mechanisms, entrepreneurial ecosystems, financial resilience, and behavioral dynamics within emerging economy contexts. Collectively, the studies explore how organizations, SMEs, digital workers, local financial institutions, and consumers respond to structural shifts driven by digitalization, knowledge utilization, artificial intelligence, and environmental uncertainty.
The issue addresses a key research gap concerning the limited understanding of mediating and contextual mechanisms through which strategic resources—such as digital technologies, knowledge management, intellectual capital, and institutional support—are translated into innovation, performance, value creation, and behavioral outcomes. Prior literature has often assumed linear relationships, while empirical evidence from SMEs, informal digital work, regional banking, and local tourism settings in developing economies remains fragmented and underexplored.
Methodologically, the contributions are dominated by quantitative survey-based designs employing Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test complex mediation models, complemented by qualitative and descriptive studies and a systematic literature review. Cross-study findings consistently demonstrate that digital engagement, innovation orientation, AI utilization, financial innovation, and institutional narratives function as key mediators linking resources to performance and value. Moreover, the effectiveness of digital transformation is shown to depend on socially embedded and contextual factors, including actor engagement, user experience, and adaptive governance mechanisms.
This issue advances resource-based, dynamic capability, and ecosystem perspectives in emerging economy settings while offering practical implications for strengthening innovation capabilities, ethical technology governance, SME support systems, and inclusive digital development policies. Overall, it provides an integrated and contextually grounded understanding of management and business innovation in transitional digital economies.