IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v78y2025ics1544612325004635.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital economy and corporate sustainability: Mediating roles of green innovation and risk-taking

Author

Listed:
  • Bu, Wei
  • Yan, Zhongyi
  • Yang, Shuning

Abstract

This study examines how digital economic development affects corporate sustainability through green innovation and risk-taking. Analyzing 23,603 firm-year observations from listed Chinese companies (2010–2022), we demonstrate that digital economy significantly enhances corporate sustainability through dual pathways of fostering environmental technological advancement and promoting strategic risk-taking. Heterogeneity analyses revealed stronger effects in nonpolluting industries and privately owned enterprises. Findings indicate that, through digital economy development, corporate leaders can implement digital transformation strategies and policymakers can promote sustainable business practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Bu, Wei & Yan, Zhongyi & Yang, Shuning, 2025. "Digital economy and corporate sustainability: Mediating roles of green innovation and risk-taking," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:78:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325004635
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107200
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325004635
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.107200?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. Wu, Jianan & Guo, Cheng & Liu, Xiaojing & Dai, Jiapeng, 2025. "Policy-driven employment structure transformation: The role of innovation and education investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Teece, David J., 2018. "Profiting from innovation in the digital economy: Enabling technologies, standards, and licensing models in the wireless world," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1367-1387.
    3. Jimena Gonzalez-Ramirez & Poonam Arora & Guillermo Podesta, 2018. "Using Insights from Prospect Theory to Enhance Sustainable Decision Making by Agribusinesses in Argentina," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Hock-Doepgen, Marianne & Clauss, Thomas & Kraus, Sascha & Cheng, Cheng-Feng, 2021. "Knowledge management capabilities and organizational risk-taking for business model innovation in SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 683-697.
    5. Dai, Jiapeng & Mehmood, Usman & Nassani, Abdelmohsen A., 2025. "Empowering sustainability through energy efficiency, green innovations, and the sharing economy: Insights from G7 economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    6. Raihan, Asif, 2024. "A review of the potential opportunities and challenges of the digital economy for sustainability," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 3(4).
    7. Dai, Jiapeng, 2025. "Is policy pilot a viable path to sustainable development? Attention allocation perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Ghosh, Swapan & Hughes, Mat & Hodgkinson, Ian & Hughes, Paul, 2022. "Digital transformation of industrial businesses: A dynamic capability approach," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    9. Tang, Chang & Xu, Yuanyuan & Hao, Yu & Wu, Haitao & Xue, Yan, 2021. "What is the role of telecommunications infrastructure construction in green technology innovation? A firm-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    10. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Guido Schmidt-Traub & Mariana Mazzucato & Dirk Messner & Nebojsa Nakicenovic & Johan Rockström, 2019. "Six Transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 805-814, September.
    11. Zhu, Yongyi & Yu, Di, 2024. "Digital transformation and firms’ bargaining power: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    12. Pepper, Alexander & Gore, Julie, 2015. "Behavioral agency theory: new foundations for theorizing about executive compensation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 47569, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Dan K. Hsu & Johan Wiklund & Richard D. Cotton, 2017. "Success, Failure, and Entrepreneurial Reentry: An Experimental Assessment of the Veracity of Self–Efficacy and Prospect Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 19-47, January.
    14. Andrew L. Friedman & Samantha Miles, 2002. "Developing Stakeholder Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-21, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Li, Pengcheng & Chen, Yanbing & Guo, Xiaochuan, 2025. "Digital transformation and supply chain resilience," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. 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).
    3. Liu, Yuanyang & Tian, Xuemei & Long, Yang, 2025. "Digital economy and corporate ESG performance: Cost reduction or efficiency improvement?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Meiwen, Su & Ming, Ji & Mengyu, Li, 2025. "Education, technology and high-quality economic development," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Wang, Zhenzhen & Jia, Junting, 2025. "Digital transformation and organizational resilience," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Liu, Qiong & Wang, Hairong, 2025. "Digital transformation, innovation capability, and ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Wang, Linjing & Zhao, Chunyan & Gan, Yufei & Ni, Xiaoxiao, 2025. "Financial flexibility, organizational resilience and corporate green innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    8. Chen, Keren & Zhao, Shenghan & Jiang, Gaozhe & He, Yafeng & Li, Hui, 2025. "The green innovation effect of the digital economy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Tang, Meihuan, 2025. "Data element utilization and firm value," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Yan, Nan & Xue, Yuhang & Xu, Menghan & Sun, Yige & Yang, Yun, 2025. "Sentiment tendency of ESG coverage, public concern, and corporate environmental performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Suo, Xuekun & Zhang, Longting & Guo, Rong & Lin, Han & Yu, Mingchuan & Du, Xiuhong, 2024. "The inverted U-shaped association between digital economy and corporate total factor productivity: A knowledge-based perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    12. Zou, Siqi & Long, Yang, 2025. "The nonlinear impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate green total factor productivity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Zhiying Ji & Tingyu Zhou & Qian Zhang, 2023. "The Impact of Digital Transformation on Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from Listed Companies in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.
    14. Yang, Daoxiang & Jiao, Xuyang & Liao, Wenjiu, 2025. "Audit risk and green innovation in SMEs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    15. Hu, Jinjin & Huo, Dong & Wu, Delin & Yang, Chunhong, 2025. "The effect of corporate agglomeration networks on breakthrough innovation—Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    16. Dongkun Li & Qianqian Han & Huizhong Lu, 2024. "Can information construction promote the digital transformation of enterprises? Evidence from the 'Pilot Zone for the Integration of Informatization and Industrialization’," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-26, June.
    17. Guo, Xiaochuan & Li, Mengmeng & Wang, Yanlin & Mardani, Abbas, 2023. "Does digital transformation improve the firm’s performance? From the perspective of digitalization paradox and managerial myopia," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    18. Yang, Jie & Niu, Yanfang & Shi, Wenlei & Zhu, Kanghuan, 2025. "Predicting ESG disclosure quality through board secretaries' characteristics: A machine learning approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. liu, Zhizhong & Ju, Bin, 2023. "Network infrastructure construction and heterogeneous enterprise innovation quasi-natural experiment based on “Broadband China”," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    20. Chen, Shi & Liu, Zhongyi & Cai, Wanlin, 2025. "Digital transformation and tax compliance in Chinese industrial sector," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(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:78:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325004635. 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.