IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecofin/v75y2025ipas1062940824002304.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hand in hand or left behind: The dual impact of leading firms’ digital technologies on industry digital transformation

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Chuanhui
  • Sheng, Zhongyuan
  • Hu, Xuetong
  • Tian, Chunxiao

Abstract

This study, utilizing Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2022, reveals that enterprises can improve their digital transformation strategies by learning from the digital technologies of industry-leading companies. By free-riding on technology adoption, enterprises can reduce their R&D investments in implementing digital transformation projects, as existing digital technologies can be copied and improved for their own use. Furthermore, we find that firms with stronger research capabilities are more efficient at learning from leading firms’ digital technologies. Better digital technologies not only optimize a firm’s strategic plan for digital transformation but also enhance the actual implementation of such projects. This enhancement is achieved by easing financing constraints and diversifying the upstream chain. Our findings are robust to alternative variable measures and endogeneity tests. Overall, we highlight the technological spillovers of digital technology innovations by leading firms, facilitating a deeper digital transformation of other firms through various governance channels.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Chuanhui & Sheng, Zhongyuan & Hu, Xuetong & Tian, Chunxiao, 2025. "Hand in hand or left behind: The dual impact of leading firms’ digital technologies on industry digital transformation," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:75:y:2025:i:pa:s1062940824002304
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2024.102305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062940824002304
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.najef.2024.102305?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digital technology; Digital transformation; Technology adoption hitchhiker;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:75:y:2025:i:pa:s1062940824002304. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620163 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.