{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T09:33:27Z","timestamp":1775813607318,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":71,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775779200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Systemic digital innovation plays a pivotal role in driving firms\u2019 future growth. As key decision-makers in strategic planning, executives play a critical role in promoting digital innovation. Therefore, how to effectively motivate executives to engage in systemic digital innovation remains an important research question. Drawing on principal-agent theory, this study examines how equity incentives promote systemic digital innovation, a form of firm-level digital technological innovation embedded in organizational governance and resource allocation systems. Using the panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms over 2007\u20132024, we investigate the governance mechanisms in a major emerging market context. The results show that equity incentives significantly promote systemic digital innovation. Managerial risk-taking and long-term orientation partially mediate this relationship, indicating that incentive alignment reshapes executives\u2019 behavioral orientations toward intertemporal decision-making. Moreover, executives\u2019 IT background strengthens the positive effect of equity incentives, whereas financing constraints weaken it. These findings highlight equity incentives as a governance mechanism that facilitates sustained systemic digital innovation in emerging market firms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems14040421","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T07:55:12Z","timestamp":1775807712000},"page":"421","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Equity Incentives and Systemic Digital Innovation: Governance Mechanisms in Emerging Market Firms"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-1268-6221","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yingjie","family":"Bai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-6406-285X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Junqi","family":"Zong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"471","DOI":"10.25300\/MISQ\/2013\/37:2.3","article-title":"Digital business strategy: Toward a next generation of insights","volume":"37","author":"Bharadwaj","year":"2013","journal-title":"MIS Q."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"724","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.1100.0322","article-title":"The new organizing logic of digital innovation: An agenda for information systems research","volume":"21","author":"Yoo","year":"2010","journal-title":"Inf. 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