Corporate digital intelligence, knowledge management and export technological sophistication

Purpose This study aims to examine the causal impact of corporate digital intelligence (CDI) on the technological sophistication of exports while exploring its underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions. Design/methodology/approach Using panel data on Chinese non-financial A-share listed firms (2014–2023), the authors use fixed effects, mediation and moderation methods, controlling for firm fixed effects and industry time-varying shocks. Findings For each standard deviation increase in the CDI, the level of export sophistication rises by approximately 11%. Mechanism analyses reveal that CDI reconfigures the knowledge-management process: on the one hand, it broadens the applied knowledge base of the enterprise, and on the other hand, it stimulates knowledge reorganization and creation. Talent further amplifies this process: a larger stock of superstar inventors strengthens the conversion of knowledge breadth into recombinant creation, revealing complementarity between frontier human capital and digital capability. Heterogeneity results point to a substitution pattern. Originality/value Conceptualizing CDI as a compensating capability, the authors unpack its dual knowledge-management mechanisms, reveal complementarity with top talent and substitution patterns, enriching digital economy and export upgrading research.