The dynamic capability perspective offers an important analytical framework for explaining the widespread phenomenon of firms being "unwilling, afraid, and unable" to undertake digital-intelligent transformation. Existing research predominantly focuses on the capability dimension, emphasizing how dynamic capabilities facilitate transformation through resource integration, while often overlooking their impact on transformation motivation. This study adopts a dual perspective of motivation and capability, proposing that dynamic capabilities exert dual and opposing mechanisms on firms'' digital-intelligent transformation: they weaken the motivation for undertaking disruptive change while simultaneously enhancing the capability to integrate and configure digital resources. Together, these mechanisms lead to an inverted U-shaped relationship between dynamic capabilities and digital-intelligent transformation. Furthermore, the study finds that attention from institutional actors (investors and news media) strengthens firms'' transformation motivation by enhancing the legitimacy pressure for transformation, thereby flattening the aforementioned inverted U-shaped relationship. Empirical analysis based on data from Chinese listed firms'' annual reports (2015–2021), investor-firm Q&A records from stock exchange platforms, and financial news data supports the research hypotheses. Mechanism tests confirm that dynamic capabilities significantly reduce firms'' motivation for digital-intelligent transformation while improving their corresponding capability. This study not only extends theoretical understanding of the relationship between dynamic capabilities and digital-intelligent transformation but also holds significant implications for policy formulation and corporate transformation practices.