The Impact of Supply Chain Finance on the Total Factor Productivity of Agricultural Enterprises: Evidence from China

As the primary force driving the sustainable development of the rural economy, the improvement of the total factor productivity (TFP) of agricultural enterprises (AEs) is of great strategic significance. This study innovatively zeroes in on AEs, leveraging micro-level data from agricultural listed companies in China’s A-share market spanning from 2007 to 2023. It aims to investigate the impact of supply chain finance (SCF) on the TFP of these enterprises and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Uniquely, this study incorporates enterprise digital transformation and innovation capability as moderating variables into the mechanism analysis framework. Furthermore, it examines the heterogeneous effects across different characteristics of AEs. The findings reveal that SCF significantly boosts the TFP of AEs. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in the level of SCF is associated with a 0.2658% increase in TFP relative to the mean. This conclusion holds robustly across various tests. Moreover, the interaction terms of SCF with both enterprise digital transformation and innovation capability are significantly positive. This indicates that greater digital transformation and stronger innovation capability amplify the positive effect of SCF on TFP. The heterogeneous analysis further indicates that for AEs with highly optimized human capital, higher financing constraints, and more efficient credit resource allocation, the positive impact of SCF on TFP is particularly pronounced.