Effects of resource occupation and decision authority decentralisation on performance of the IoT-based virtual enterprise in central China

Enterprises in China are extensively involved in collaborative virtual enterprise (VE) supported by the internet of things (IoT). This paper investigates the effects of member enterprises’ resource occupation on performance of the IoT-based VE, and examines how such effects are moderated by decision authority decentralisation. We obtained the research data from a survey administered to 141 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that participate in IoT-based VEs. Hierarchical regression analysis was adopted to test the proposed hypotheses. Our findings suggest that information and operational resources are positively associated with both business and market performance. Strategic decision authority decentralised to SMEs with superior information or operational resources enhances the overall performance, whereas decentralisation of operational decision authority facilitates the positive effects of operational resource on performance. Our study provides directive guidance for IoT-based VEs to cultivate and acquire specific superior resources, and allocate decision authorities reasonably for effective resource utilisation and collaboration.