Understanding digital business ecosystems in gastronomy: The mediating role of digital collaboration and the moderating effect of environmental turbulence

This study examines how digital business ecosystem capabilities drive gastronomy business performance in tourism contexts characterized by environmental turbulence. Drawing on Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the research develops and tests a moderated mediation model in which digital collaboration quality mediates the relationship between ecosystem capabilities and business performance, while environmental turbulence acts as a boundary condition. Survey data collected from 412 gastronomy-oriented tourism businesses were analyzed using a two-stage PLS-SEM approach. The findings reveal that digital business ecosystem capabilities significantly enhance the quality of digital collaboration, thereby improving gastronomy business performance. Moreover, environmental turbulence strengthens both the direct and indirect effects, indicating that ecosystem capabilities become more valuable under higher uncertainty. By extending dynamic capabilities to the ecosystem level, this study advances tourism and hospitality literature and offers actionable insights for managers navigating digitally enabled tourism ecosystems.