IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v72y2025ics1544612324015472.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of digital transformation on corporate ESG performance

Author

Listed:
  • Guo, Xin
  • Pang, Weiyan

Abstract

Taking all A-share listed companies in China from 2012 to 2021 as a research sample, this paper explores the internal mechanism of digital transformation affecting corporate ESG performance. The study found that digital transformation significantly improved corporate ESG performance. The results of the mechanism test show that digital transformation improves the ESG performance of enterprises by improving the level of green innovation and strengthening media attention. And environmental uncertainty plays a negative moderating role in the process of digital transformation to improve the ESG performance of enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Guo, Xin & Pang, Weiyan, 2025. "The impact of digital transformation on corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:72:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324015472
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324015472
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106518?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pengpeng Yue & Aslihan Gizem Korkmaz & Zhichao Yin & Haigang Zhou, 2022. "The rise of digital finance: Financial inclusion or debt trap," Papers 2201.09221, arXiv.org.
    2. Wang, Juxian & Ma, Mengdi & Dong, Tianyi & Zhang, Zheyuan, 2023. "Do ESG ratings promote corporate green innovation? A quasi-natural experiment based on SynTao Green Finance's ESG ratings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. He, Feng & Guo, Xinyao & Yue, Pengpeng, 2024. "Media coverage and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Niu, Yuhao & Wen, Wen & Wang, Sai & Li, Sifei, 2023. "Breaking barriers to innovation: The power of digital transformation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Ye, Xiang & Yue, Pengpeng, 2024. "What matters to reshaping consumption patterns in China? Digital inclusion and supply chain," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    6. Yue, Pengpeng & Korkmaz, Aslihan Gizem & Yin, Zhichao & Zhou, Haigang, 2022. "The rise of digital finance: Financial inclusion or debt trap?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    7. Xu, Dandan & Guo, Dongli & Yue, Pengpeng & Li, Mengshi, 2024. "Household green consumption: Does digital inclusion matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    8. Zhou, Linjiang & Shi, Xiaochuan & Bao, Yaxiong & Gao, Lihua & Ma, Chao, 2023. "Explainable artificial intelligence for digital finance and consumption upgrading," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    9. Zhang, Dongyang & Bai, Dingchuan & Wang, Cao & He, Yurun, 2024. "Distribution dynamics and quantile dynamic convergence of the digital economy: Prefecture-level evidence in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    10. Tian, Guangning & Li, Bo & Cheng, Yue, 2022. "Does digital transformation matter for corporate risk-taking?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    11. Hao, Jing & Peng, Mengzu & He, Wenjia, 2023. "Digital finance development and bank liquidity creation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Levente Péter Bálint & László Várallyai & Szilvia Botos, 2025. "Evaluation of Data-Driven Sustainability Potential at SMEs Using an Altered Ecocanvas Model," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Ren, Hao, 2025. "ESG rating disagreement and corporate digital transformation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Zhu, Xiang & Chen, Hongtao & Xiang, Erwei & Qi, Yingjin, 2025. "Digital transformation and corporate green technology transfer: The moderating effect of executive green cognition," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Rewayda Tobar, 2025. "Nonlinear Nexus Between ESG Scores and Corporate Performance of Insurance Companies in the MENAT Region: Moderating the Effect of Institutional Quality," Risks, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tang, Xinhui & Du, Shujun & Deng, Wenwen, 2025. "Business innovation in digital startups: A case study of an AI startup," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Zhang, Qixin & Xiang, Zhiqiang & Xiang, Zhiguo, 2025. "New media supervision, digital transformation, and corporate green investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Xiao, Yu & Wu, Junxian & Tu, Yongqian, 2025. "Intensity of environmental regulation, integration of digital and physical realms, and level of corporate green development," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Liu, Meihan & Zhao, Jingjie & Liu, Hongtao, 2025. "Digital transformation, employee and executive compensation, and sustained green innovation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Xu, Zhiyi & Yang, Jindi, 2025. "Impact of digital finance on rural industry revitalization," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Xing, Manjiang & Gong, Chi & Moon, Gyu-Hyen & Ge, Xiaohong, 2025. "Digital economy, dual innovation capability and enterprise labor productivity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Wei, Feiqiong & Xie, Baiwei & Chen, Mingyan, 2025. "Digital financial inclusion, e-commerce development and entrepreneurial activity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Li, Pengcheng & Guo, Xiaochuan & Wang, Fengzheng & Zhang, Qifeng, 2025. "Digital transformation and corporate innovation boundaries: Role of supply chain concentration and transparency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    9. Cui, Kai & Yang, Wen, 2025. "The digital economy and the resilience of enterprise exports: Supply chain stability as a mediator," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Chishti, Muhammad Zubair & Xia, Xiqiang & Du, Anna Min & Özkan, Oktay, 2025. "Digital financial inclusion, the belt and road initiative, and the Paris agreement: Impacts on energy transition grid costs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Jiang, Lixia & Cao, Xiaojing & Wang, Zeyu & Zhan, Yun & Zhang, Jiali & Chen, Shuai, 2025. "Promoting energy saving and emission reduction benefits in small and medium-sized enterprises supply chains through green finance - Evidence based on artificial intelligence intervention," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    12. Liu, Yuanyuan & Liu, Qianqian & Wei, Yanqiu, 2025. "Digital finance, internal control, and audit quality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Wang, Wei & Cao, QiangYuan & Li, Zhouyang & Zhu, JinYing, 2025. "Digital transformation and corporate environmental performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Li, Haibo & Xiao, Biyun, 2025. "Strengthening provincial export resilience through the digital economy: Analysis of impacts, global value chain integration, and regional disparities in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    15. Ding, Qiaoying & He, Wensheng & Deng, Yanfang, 2025. "Can tax reduction incentive policy promote corporate digital and intelligent transformation?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Han, Lihong & Lv, Qi & Zhang, Qi, 2025. "Digital financial inclusion, credit access and non-farm employment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Liu, Jintao & Wang, Xiuhai, 2025. "Exploring the driving effect of the digital economy on rural labor force's occupational transformation: Based on analysis of CFPS panel data," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    18. Zhan, Yunqiu & Gao, Dongfei & Feng, Muzi & Yan, Shen, 2025. "Digital finance, non-agricultural employment, and the income-increasing effect on rural households," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    19. Wang, Deli & Liu, Xiaoyuan & Hu, Shiyang & Wu, Shangrui, 2025. "The value of digital government transformation: Evidence from R&D subsidy efficiency in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    20. Liu, Dongming & Tu, Yongqian & Chen, Zhangzhang & Zheng, Yinglong, 2025. "Analysis of the synergistic effect of digital financial inclusion and social security on crime governance based on regional differences," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:finlet:v:72:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324015472. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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/frl .

    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.