From Hybrid Incentive Systems to Competitive Intelligence: How Key Technologies Enable Innovation Management in Multi-Age Teams

Purpose: This study investigates how hybrid incentive systems and key digital technologies foster competitive intelligence capability and how this capability drives innovation management in multi-age teams within technology-intensive organizations. Methodology/approach: A quantitative survey was conducted with 387 employees from Chinese technology-intensive firms. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to test direct, mediating, and moderating relationships among hybrid incentive systems, digital technologies, competitive intelligence capability, innovation outcomes, and generational diversity. Originality/Relevance: The study advances competitive intelligence research by positioning CI as the central strategic capability that transforms socio-technical inputs into innovation outcomes, moving beyond technology-centric or HR-based explanations of innovation performance. Key findings: Results show that hybrid incentive systems significantly enhance innovation outcomes, with digital technologies partially mediating this relationship. Competitive intelligence capability exhibits the strongest direct effect on innovation performance. Generational diversity positively moderates the incentive–innovation relationship, strengthening results in highly diverse teams. Theoretical/methodological contributions: The research integrates human resource systems, digital transformation, and competitive intelligence into a unified framework, demonstrating CI as a dynamic, information-based capability that converts incentives and technologies into sustainable innovation. Methodologically, it provides empirical evidence using SEM in a multigenerational context, contributing to intelligence-based decision-making and innovation strategy literature.