Can digital transformation improve sustainable performance of manufacturing firms? Empirical evidence based on core technology capabilities

What is it about?

In the context of the digital economy, digital transformation has become an unavoidable measure for manufacturing enterprises to adapt to the market. Based on the panel data of Chinese listed manufacturing companies from 2012 to 2020, we empirically investigate the impact of digital transformation (digital process, digital operation and digital ecology) on sustainability performance (economic performance and environmental performance). Our findings indicate that digital operations and digital ecology significantly improve economic performance and environmental performance. Furthermore, the core technological capacity of the enterprise serves to modify the positive correlation between digital transformation at each stage and sustainable performance to some extent. In other words, when an enterprise is equipped with the requisite technological capacity, the digital transformation at each stage accelerates both economic performance and environmental performance, which in turn is conducive to an improvement in the enterprise's sustainable development performance. Our findings contribute to the theoretical framework of digital transformation and sustainable development in all stages of enterprises. Furthermore, they provide guidance for achieving sustainable development through the implementation of digital transformation and the enhancement of core technological capacity.

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