Pathways to Enhancing Digital and Intelligent Service Supply Capacity for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A fsQCA Analysis Based on the TOE Framework

The digital and intelligent transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitutes a critical pathway for fostering their specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative development and cultivating new quality productive forces. Strengthening the construction of the supply-side service system and enhancing the specialized supply capacity of digital service providers are of great practical significance for addressing the supply-demand mismatch in SMEs' digital and intelligent transformation and for promoting substantive and effective implementation. This paper focuses on improving transformation service capacity on the supply side. Drawing on a sample of 80 digital service providers from a coastal region in Eastern China, and based on the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and configuration theory, this study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to investigate the complex interrelationships and joint effects among factors influencing the specialized supply capacity of digital service providers. The findings reveal three distinct equifinal configurations, which can be summarized as: a knowledge-ecology-led pathway, an environment-knowledge-led pathway, and a technology-organization-led, policy-driven pathway. These pathways exhibit significant asymmetry and relationships characterized by complementarity and substitution. Notably, a substitution effect is identified between a vibrant market environment and an open collaborative strategy, while a complementary relationship is observed between technological innovation and talent pool size. This research extends the application boundary of the TOE framework to the service supply dimension and deepens the theoretical understanding of the growth mechanisms of digital service providers. It provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for digital service providers to formulate development strategies aligned with their unique endowments. as well as for the optimization of governmental policy instruments.