Does Digital Transformation Improve Corporate ESG Responsibility Performance? ——Evidence from China

The double‐edged sword effect of organizational resilience on ESG performance

“…Following prior studies (Liu et al, 2022; Wang et al, 2023; Wang, Wang, et al, 2022), the following control variables were added to the regression model: (1) Firm ownership (SOE), measured by setting the value of state‐owned enterprises as 1 and others as 0; (2) Whether it is one of the four largest (Big4), audited by the Big 4 (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young) was 1, otherwise it was 0; (3) Financial leverage (Lev), measured by the ratio of annual average total liabilities to annual average total assets; (4) Management expense ratio (Mfee), measured by the ratio of administrative expenses to operating income; (5) Number of directors (Board), measured by the natural logarithm of the number of board members; (6) Shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder (Top1), measured by the ratio of the number of shares held by the largest shareholder to the total number of shares; and (7) Firm age (Age), measured by the logarithm of the number of years from the date of incorporation to the observation date plus one.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that resilient organizations are more willing to invest in innovative activities (Akgun & Keskin, 2014; Ye et al, 2022). The increase of innovation input can increase efficiency for business development, promote product innovation, green innovation, and technological innovation, and thus contribute to corporate ESG performance (Wang, Wang, et al, 2022). For which listed companies should pay attention to the incentive of innovation motivation of R&D personnel and formulate a reasonable reward and punishment system, so as to maximize the efficiency of employees' innovation ability into the actual productivity of enterprises.…”

“…The increase of innovation input not only helps reduce energy intensity and carbon emission intensity (Wang et al, 2021), but also can provide high quality and safe products and services to customers, consumers, and other stakeholders (Li & Liu, 2017). In addition, it can also enhance governance performance (Wang, Wang, et al, 2022), thus contributing to ESG performance. This is consistent with the view of resource investment acquisition in COR theory.…”

“…Finally, the increase of innovation input helps to improve the efficiency of enterprise internal governance, optimize the internal control system and audit mode. It also contributes to the establishment of effective internal communication mechanisms and channels, and the formation of an internal governance system compatible with the incentive of innovation capability (Wang, Wang, et al, 2022). Research shows that innovation activities can encourage firms to independently innovate product performance, help to update product production mode and significantly reduce product production costs (Wang, 2001), thus helping firms to maximize profits and achieve long‐term survival.…”

Effect of servitization on performance in manufacturing firms: A mediating effect model of digitalisation moderated by ESG performance

“…By contrast, this study uses the CSI ESG Rating (which is more rapidly updated and covers a wider range of data) [ 97 ] as an indicator of ESG responsibility performance, considering the accessibility and real-time nature of CSI data. The ESG rating scale is assigned from highest to lowest, drawing on the practices of [ 98 , 99 ], and others. The ESG AAA rating is assigned a value of nine, AA is assigned a value of eight, and so on, with the smallest rating being C, assigned a value of one.…”