AI tools drive innovation in sports firms through employee experiences moderated by perceived digital transformation climate

Abstract This study investigates how artificial intelligence tools improve perceived innovation capability within sports firms, focusing on the parallel mediating roles of workplace enjoyment and supportive climate, organizational identification, and AI-enhanced work engagement, and the moderating role of perceived digital transformation climate. Drawing on Social Identity Theory and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we argue that AI functions as a vital organizational resource, triggering three parallel pathways toward innovation: affective, identity-based, and motivational. We collected survey data from 611 employees of Chinese sports enterprises and analyzed the data using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results reveal that AI significantly enhances perceived innovation capability directly and indirectly through workplace enjoyment and supportive climate, organizational identification, and AI-enhanced work engagement, among which organizational identification showed the largest indirect point estimate, though pairwise contrasts were not statistically significant. In addition, perceived digital transformation climate positively moderates the direct association between artificial intelligence tools and perceived innovation capability. These findings provide an integrated framework for unpacking AI-enabled innovation in sports organizations, emphasizing the importance of employees’ workplace experience and strategic perceived digital transformation climate. Theoretical contributions and practical managerial implications for sports-sector digital innovation are discussed.