Individual Behavior or Collective Phenomenon: Peer Effects in the Coordinated Intelligentization and Greenization of Chinese Manufacturing Firms

Artificial intelligence technology plays an important role in driving the coordinated development of intelligentization and greenization in China’s manufacturing industry. However, there may be differences in enterprises’ capabilities to advance this coordinated development, and it remains unclear whether promoting such dual transformation is an individual behavior or a collective phenomenon. This paper employs the entropy weight method and the coupling coordination degree model to measure the level of coordinated development between enterprise intelligentization and greenization, and examines the peer effects of dual transformation among enterprises. The findings show that enterprise intelligentization lags behind greenization, with the two aspects being in a state of low-level coupling but steadily improving. Additionally, there are significant peer effects in the coordinated development of enterprise intelligentization and greenization, with their formation mechanisms primarily reflected in intelligentization enabling greenization, intra-industry competition, and the learning effect of followers from leaders. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the peer effects in the coordinated development of intelligentization and greenization are more pronounced among state-owned enterprises and technology-intensive firms. Moreover, enterprises located in the same province, within the same large-scale city, or within the same interlocking directorate network are more likely to exhibit peer effects in dual transformation.