How Does External Social Network Affect Business Model Innovation in the Context of Digital Transformation: a Moderated Mediation Model

In the era of digital economy, business model innovation (BMI) has become an important way for companies to achieve digital transformation and gain new competitive advantages, but there is still a lack of research on the impact mechanism of BMI. Based on the social network theory perspective, this paper explores the influence of external social network (ESN) on BMI and the mediating role of business model boundary-spanning search (BMBS) and the moderating role of slack resources (SR). Through the survey and data analysis of 201 Chinese companies, this paper found that ESN has a significant positive impact on BMI. In addition, BMBS played a partial mediating role between ESN and BMI. At the same time, SR positively moderates the relationship between BMBS and BMI and the mediating effect of BMBS. The findings enrich the study about the influencing mechanism of BMI and provide insights into the BMI practice of companies in the context of digital transformation.