INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY: A GLOBAL COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Background: The rapid expansion of digital technologies has fundamentally reconfigured the conditions under which contemporary organizations compete and create value. Legacy management paradigms, built on assumptions of environmental stability, hierarchical authority, and standardized production, are increasingly misaligned with the realities of digitally mediated markets characterized by hyper-competition, continuous disruption, and knowledge-intensive value chains. Objective: This study investigates how innovative management practices interact with the conditions of the digital economy to shape organizational performance across geographically diverse national contexts. Specifically, the research examines the structure, determinants, and performance outcomes of digital-era management innovation through a globally comparative lens spanning 38 countries across six world regions. Methods: Secondary data were obtained from the Global Innovation Index (GII), the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (IMD, 2024), the World Management Survey (WMS), and the OECD Digital Economy Outlook. These were complemented by a primary survey administered to 3,240 senior managers across 38 countries. Factor analysis, multi-level regression, and cross-national clustering methods were employed in data analysis. Results: Nations with higher digital infrastructure maturity demonstrate significantly stronger innovative management profiles (r = 0.74, p < 0.001). Human capital development and open innovation ecosystems were identified as the strongest cross-national predictors of management innovation outcomes (β = 0.47 and β = 0.39, respectively). Transitional economies, including Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states, exhibit an accelerating convergence trajectory but retain a digital readiness gap of approximately 28–35 index points relative to OECD leaders. Conclusions: Innovative management in the digital economy is not a monolithic construct but a contextually embedded, multi-dimensional capability shaped by national institutional quality, digital infrastructure, and human capital endowments. The paper concludes with a theoretically grounded convergence model and actionable policy prescriptions for emerging economy contexts.