Digitalization, internationalization and green innovation in China: an analysis based on threshold and mediation effects

We use 2,847 observations from A-share listed manufacturing companies in China from 2000 to 2009 to explore the impact of digitization strategy (DIT) and internationalization strategy (INT) on green innovation (GI). Our empirical investigations provide ample evidence that INT and DIT can promote GI. We find the direct effect of digitalization is to improve the level of GI by easing financing constraints and enhancing the ability to allocate R&D resources. The threshold effect proves that the promoting effect of both INT and DIT is 1 + 1 > 2, indicating that the initial implementation of digitalization weakens the risk-bearing capacity of enterprises, whereas the intermediate and final implementation enhances the “green innovation effect” of internationalization by improving the financing capacity and the legitimacy level of transnational enterprises. That is, the path of digitalization–risk-bearing capacity, financing capacity, and legitimacy–verifies the green innovation effect of internationalization. This study offers a new framework to analyze the relationship mechanism between DIT, INT, and GI, and provides empirical evidence for the green co-innovation effect of DIT and INT. This study enriches the research findings in the theories of multinational corporations, legitimacy theory, and the resource-based view. The study also explores the threshold and mediation effects of DIT in the relationship between INT and GI performance and makes recommendations concerning corporate strategy, corporate governance, and government policy.