Past literature shows the channels through which exporting activities affect firm innovation through the learning-by-exporting (LBE) theory. Despite the fact that cross-border export has been digitalised thanks to the introduction of the internet and digital technologies, there is no study yet looking into the role of digital exports in firm innovation in the literature. For developing countries, finding and understanding this role is crucial because it allows their latecomer firms to leapfrog stages and narrow the innovation gap with advanced economies. The thesis then focuses on answering the following overarching research question: how, and through what mechanism, does digital exporting shape firms’ innovation? The thesis investigates the mechanisms by taking a mixed-method and integrated approach of three chapters. The first chapter analyses the mechanisms of how digital servitisation exports affect Latin American manufacturing firm innovation pathways, through the lens of exploitative and exploratory innovation. The second chapter opens the black box of how digital service exports generate innovation in practice by inductively exploring the mechanisms from the Philippine IT-Business Process Management (BPM) sector. The third chapter will look into the role of digital service export on firm innovation resilience during major economic shocks by taking evidence from African firms facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Taken together, the thesis formalises a mechanism framework for “digital” LBE.