Innovation Pathways and Organizational Adaptation Mechanism of Scientific Research Services in Digital-Intelligence Transformation—A Case Study of AiScholar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55578/jedip.2511.011Keywords:
Digital-Intelligence Transformation, Scientific Research Service (SRS), Innovation Pathway, Socio-Technical Systems Theory, Organizational ReformAbstract
Amidst the deep fusion of global digitalization and intelligentization, the scientific research service (SRS) sector is undergoing a profound paradigm shift. Based on the socio-technical systems (STS) theory, a longitudinal single-case study on AiScholar, a one-stop SRS platform, is conducted here to trace its decade-long digital-intelligence transformation journey. It is revealed that AiScholar’s evolution has progressed through three distinct but sequential stages: informationization-based foundation-laying, digitalization-driven development, and intelligentization-led advancement, each characterized by its unique technological foci, organizational challenges, and value creation logics. It is also found that the successful transformation of AiScholar relies not only on its continuous improvement of technological strength, but, more critically, on its dynamic adaptation between its technological subsystem and social subsystem (involving organizational architecture, cultural cognition, and the external environment). Through contextualized “consensus-building” governance, data-driven organizational culture reshaping, and “internal-external” dual-loop synergy, AiScholar has navigated the inherent tensions during its decade-long journey of transformation. Finally, an integrated model of phased progression and multi-dimensional synergy is constructed to provide a theoretical framework and managerial insights for similar enterprises to navigate their journey of digital-intelligence transformation.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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