Orchestrating Ecosystem Resources for Sustainability: Coopetition, Digital Transformation, and Disruptive Sustainable Innovation

ABSTRACT As sustainability transitions accelerate, firms increasingly engage in innovation ecosystems to pursue disruptive sustainable innovation (DSI). Nevertheless, empirical understanding regarding how innovation ecosystem coopetition—simultaneous cooperation and competition among interdependent actors—translates into sustainability‐oriented disruption remains limited. Drawing on resource orchestration theory (ROT), this study examined the differential effects of cooperation and competition on DSI and clarified the mechanisms of digital transformation through which these effects unfold. Specifically, this study investigated the mediating roles of digital transformation breadth and depth, as well as the moderating influence of open innovation. Using two‐wave survey data from 256 firms embedded in South Korea's innovation clusters and analyzing the model via partial least squares structural equation modeling, pronounced asymmetries were uncovered. Competition exerts a direct positive effect on DSI, whereas cooperation does not generate immediate disruptive outcomes. Instead, cooperation contributes to DSI only indirectly by fostering digital transformation, with the breadth and depth of digitalization fully mediating this relationship. By contrast, for competition, digital transformation depth provides a complementary mediation pathway, suggesting that deeply embedded digital capabilities are critical for converting competitive pressures into sustainability‐oriented disruption. Furthermore, open innovation positively moderates the relationship between cooperation and digital transformation but has no moderating effect on competition, suggesting that knowledge openness facilitates collaborative digital learning rather than intensifying competitive dynamics. Overall, this study advances the understanding of how ecosystem relationships, digital capabilities, and knowledge openness jointly shape DSI. These findings offer actionable insights for managers and policymakers seeking to strategically orchestrate ecosystem interactions and digital transformation mechanisms to accelerate sustainability transitions.