How Does Participation in AI Standardisation Affect the Sustainable Development of Strategic Emerging Enterprises Under the Background of Uncertainty? Evidence from China

Under the background of uncertainty brought by the rapid development of AI, participation in AI standardisation is becoming the key for strategic emerging enterprises (SEEs) to break through and achieve sustainable development. This paper selects listed SEEs from the China Strategic Emerging Industries Composite Index jointly issued by China Securities Index Co., Ltd. and the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2017 as the initial sample. We collect 3430 observations from 380 companies spanning 2010 to 2023. This paper employs a two-way fixed effects model incorporating enterprise clustering. It thoroughly investigates and empirically tests how participation in AI standardisation affects the sustainable development of SEEs under uncertainty. It is found that participation in AI standardisation in the context of uncertainty has a significant positive effect on the sustainable development of SEEs, and this conclusion still holds after employing instrumental variables, difference-in-difference, and a series of robustness tests. Mechanism tests indicate that two transmission paths exist between participation in AI standardisation and the sustainable development of SEEs under uncertainty: digital technology innovation and the dynamic capabilities in the dimensions of learning and absorption as well as change and reconfiguration. However, the dynamic capabilities in the coordination and integration dimensions do not play a significant mediating role. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that participation in AI standardisation contributes more significantly to the sustainable development of SEEs that are not state-owned, face lower environmental and information uncertainty, and are under higher economic policy uncertainty. The findings enrich the research related to AI standardisation and firm sustainability and provide policy recommendations for the sustainable development of SEEs in the context of uncertainty.