A Study on the Effects of Members' Perceived Innovation Factors and Types of Corporate Leadership on Innovation Resistance on the Digital Transformation of Chinese Tourism Companies

As the adoption of information and communication technology accelerates, the tourism industry is undergoing significant transformations, leading tourism companies to redefine their traditional business operations through digital transformation. This study aimed to analyze the impact of innovation factors and leadership styles, as perceived by members of Chinese tourism enterprises, on innovation resistance. Additionally, it examined the moderating effect of techno-stress on the relationship between perceived innovation factors and innovation resistance, as well as the mediating effect of leadership styles on the relationship between leadership types and innovation resistance. The analysis yielded the following results. Firstly, it was demonstrated that perceived innovation factors, namely relative advantage and compatibility, have significant negative impacts on innovation resistance, leading to the acceptance of hypotheses 1 and 2. Secondly, transformational leadership was found to have a significant negative impact on innovation resistance, resulting in the acceptance of hypothesis 3. However, transactional leadership, while negatively affecting innovation resistance, was not statistically significant, leading to the rejection of hypothesis 4. Thirdly, the indirect effect value of the 'transformational leadership ⟶ organizational trust ⟶ innovation resistance' pathway was found to be -0.103, which was statistically significant at the 0.1% level, thereby confirming the mediating effect of organizational trust and resulting in the acceptance of hypothesis 5. Similarly, the indirect effect value of the 'transactional leadership ⟶ organizational trust ⟶ innovation resistance' pathway was -0.107 (p<.001), also statistically significant at the 0.1% level, leading to the acceptance of hypothesis 6. Fourthly, techno-stress was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived innovation factors and innovation resistance, confirming hypothesis 7. Further analysis of the conditional effects of the independent variable on innovation resistance at the mean and ±1 standard deviation levels of techno-stress revealed that perceived innovation factors significantly predicted innovation resistance at all levels of techno-stress. These findings are expected to contribute to the successful implementation and diffusion of innovations such as digital transformation within tourism enterprises.