earticle

영어

One way to solve environmental problems is to promote economic transformation and achieve environmental sustainability through green technology innovation (GTI). Digital transformation (DT) is becoming an important driving force for GTI. Unfortunately, there is relatively little empirical research and some controversy regarding the discussion of the relationship between DT and GTI. To address the question of how to achieve the coordinated transformation of digitization and greenization, this paper conducts a theoretical analysis of the relationship between DT and GTI, and uses data from A-share listed companies from 2000 to 2021 to empirically examines the direct, mediating, and heterogeneous effects of corporate DT on GTI. The study showed that: (1) DT empowers corporate GTI, that is, the increase in DT will lead to an increase in the number of green patent applications. This paper uses the mobile phone users as a IV for digital transformation to conduct an endogeneity analysis, and then replacing the explained variable and the measurement method of the explanatory variable, adding control variables at the city level, and adjusting the clustering method. Endogeneity treatment and robustness tests support above conclusion. (2) Mechanism analysis reveals that digital transformation will stimulate the potential for corporate green innovation through two mediating processes: improving operational conditions and adjusting the structure of R&D resource allocation. Digital transformation has significantly increased corporate operating income and the amount of corporate R&D investment, that is, digitalization has improved its own operating performance and R&D expenditure structure. (3) Heterogeneity analysis finds that SOE, non-polluting and larger scale enterprises are more capable of significantly promoting green technology innovation. Multidimensional factors such as differences in corporate resource endowments and the "digital divide" between groups caused by uneven access to and use of digital technologies may cause the "empowerment" effect of digital transformation to exhibit certain heterogeneous characteristics. These conclusions provide a new research perspective for understanding the role of DT in the development of corporate GTI and offer empirical evidence for how to guide enterprises to achieve green innovation development. Clarifying the implementation path of the coordinated transformation of digitalization and greening can also more deeply explore the potential dividends of digital economic development and provide policy recommendations to the Chinese government to improve its digital economy development plan.