Digital job crafting in Confucian-heritage workplaces: human-machine collaboration as a mediator and the moderating role of continuous renewal culture

Amidst the global digital transformation, understanding how organizations harness human-machine synergies to drive innovation remains critical. Grounded in service innovation and value co-creation theories, this study investigates how digital job crafting (DJC)—employees’ proactive redesign of tasks, roles, and resources using digital tools—facilitates digital innovation (DI) through human-machine collaboration (HMC) in Chinese enterprises. We further examine how an organizational culture (OC) emphasizing “daily innovation as Tao” (continuous improvement) moderates this relationship. Survey data from 468 practitioners across IT, finance, and manufacturing sectors were analyzed via multi-level regression and structural equation modeling. Results reveal that digital job crafting significantly enhances human-machine collaboration, which in turn drives digital innovation. Human-machine collaboration plays a mediating role, while a strong “daily innovation as Tao” culture amplifies the link between digital job crafting and human-machine collaboration. To address these gaps, our study investigates how individual-level digital job crafting translates into organizational digital innovation outcomes, through the mediating mechanism of human-machine collaboration, within Confucian-heritage workplaces. Practically, it offers concrete guidance for synchronizing technological implementation with cultural adaptation during digital transitions and contributes to global debates on ethical, human-centered AI and human–machine teaming. Collectively, our work provides an understanding of when and how digital job crafting leads to innovation and offers insights into the effective utilization of human and technological resources within supportive cultural environments.