Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation

Abstract Humanity has transitioned from the industrial era to the era of the digital intelligence economy. In this context, the Chinese government has emphasized the need to “accelerate the development of the digital intelligence economy and promote its deep integration with the real economy.” For e...

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Main Authors: Xiaomeng Liu, Lei Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08850-1
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author Xiaomeng Liu
Lei Wang
author_facet Xiaomeng Liu
Lei Wang
author_sort Xiaomeng Liu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Humanity has transitioned from the industrial era to the era of the digital intelligence economy. In this context, the Chinese government has emphasized the need to “accelerate the development of the digital intelligence economy and promote its deep integration with the real economy.” For enterprises, this integration fundamentally entails a process of digital intelligence transformation. Simultaneously, ESG performance plays a critical role in enabling this enterprise transformation. Together, digital intelligence transformation and ESG form a synergistic relationship, empowering enterprises to secure a favorable position in innovation-driven competition. Based on a sample of A-share listed companies spanning from 2004 to 2023, this paper empirically investigates the impact of digital transformation and ESG performance on corporate innovation performance. The findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between enterprise digitalization and innovation performance, while ESG performance positively influences innovation performance. Furthermore, digital transformation and ESG performance positively reinforce each other, thereby collectively enhancing enterprise innovation performance.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-128c403485d14774bfb33ca99f54a8f32025-08-20T04:01:41ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111710.1038/s41598-025-08850-1Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovationXiaomeng Liu0Lei Wang1Business School, Jinling Institute of TechnologyBusiness School, Jinling Institute of TechnologyAbstract Humanity has transitioned from the industrial era to the era of the digital intelligence economy. In this context, the Chinese government has emphasized the need to “accelerate the development of the digital intelligence economy and promote its deep integration with the real economy.” For enterprises, this integration fundamentally entails a process of digital intelligence transformation. Simultaneously, ESG performance plays a critical role in enabling this enterprise transformation. Together, digital intelligence transformation and ESG form a synergistic relationship, empowering enterprises to secure a favorable position in innovation-driven competition. Based on a sample of A-share listed companies spanning from 2004 to 2023, this paper empirically investigates the impact of digital transformation and ESG performance on corporate innovation performance. The findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between enterprise digitalization and innovation performance, while ESG performance positively influences innovation performance. Furthermore, digital transformation and ESG performance positively reinforce each other, thereby collectively enhancing enterprise innovation performance.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08850-1Digital transformationESG performanceEnterprise innovation
spellingShingle Xiaomeng Liu
Lei Wang
Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation
Scientific Reports
Digital transformation
ESG performance
Enterprise innovation
title Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation
title_full Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation
title_fullStr Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation
title_full_unstemmed Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation
title_short Digital transformation, ESG performance and enterprise innovation
title_sort digital transformation esg performance and enterprise innovation
topic Digital transformation
ESG performance
Enterprise innovation
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08850-1
work_keys_str_mv AT xiaomengliu digitaltransformationesgperformanceandenterpriseinnovation
AT leiwang digitaltransformationesgperformanceandenterpriseinnovation