Nonlinear effects of enterprise digital transformation on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance: evidence from China

作者：Xiuyun Yang, Qi Han · 发表于：Sustainability Accounting Management and Policy Journal · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1108/sampj-08-2023-0553 · 被引用次数：48 · 研究领域：Environmental Sustainability in Business、Sustainable Supply Chain Management、Energy, Environment, Economic Growth

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of enterprise is influenced by the enterprise digital transformation. In addition, this study explains how enterprise digital transformation affects ESG performance. Design/methodology/approach The sample covers 4,646 nonfinancial companies listed on China’s A-share market from 2009 to 2021. The study adopts the fixed-effects multiple linear regression to perform the data analysis. Findings The study finds that enterprise digital transformation has a significant inverted U-shaped impact on ESG performance. Moderate digital transformation can improve enterprise ESG performance, whereas excessive digital transformation will bring new organizational conflicts and increase enterprise costs, which is detrimental to ESG performance. This inverted U-shaped effect is more pronounced in industrial cities, manufacturing industries and enterprises with less financing constraints and executives with financial backgrounds. Enterprise digital transformation mainly affects ESG performance by affecting the level of internal information communication and disclosure, the level of internal control and the principal-agent cost. Practical implications The government should take multiple measures to encourage enterprises to choose appropriate digital transformation based on their own production behaviors and development strategies, encourage them to innovate and upgrade ...