Strategy, Resource Orchestration and E-commerce Enabled Social Innovation in Rural China

•There is a fit between strategy, resource orchestration and social innovation.•E-commerce enabled social innovation types: incubator, independent and clone.•Specify resource orchestration in e-commerce enabled social innovation.

E-commerce enabled social innovation is becoming increasingly important as a way of reducing poverty in developing countries and yet has not been studied much by the IS community. We utilize the concept of resource orchestration as a theoretical lens to develop a fit model that explicates how resources are orchestrated under the guidance of either an indigenous, exogenous or collaborative strategy to achieve e-commerce enabled social innovation. The findings show how resources are orchestrated through the following specific resource-focused actions (collaborating, linking and enriching), which are influenced by the types of strategies applied. Our study also identifies different resource portfolios that influence the type of e-commerce enabled social innovation that can be achieved. This research benefits both academics and practitioners by contributing to cumulative theoretical developments related to e-commerce enabled social innovation and the resource orchestration perspective, and by offering corresponding practical insights to achieve fit between strategy, resource orchestration and social innovation.