Driving total factor productivity through digitalization? Evidence from high energy consuming enterprises in China

Wanhai You, Jianyong Chen and Chien-Chiang Lee

Journal of Asian Economics, 2025, vol. 100, issue C

Abstract: Digital transformation has been a significant driver for economic growth. Typically high energy consuming enterprises face significant pressure to maintain high-quality development. This study investigates the influence of digitalization on high energy consuming enterprises’ total factor productivity. Results manifest that digitalization acts as a driver for total factor productivity. Nevertheless, the impact of digitalization on total factor productivity demonstrates significant heterogeneity contingent upon both internal enterprise characteristics and external environmental factors. From an enterprise’s internal perspective, the positive influence of enterprise digitalization on total factor productivity is particularly pronounced in high energy consuming enterprises characterized by state-owned and lower growth. From an external perspective, the impact of digitalization is more pronounced among enterprises located in regions with advanced digital infrastructure and in mid-western areas. Further, mediating effect analysis reveals that digitalization can boost total factor productivity by enhancing innovation investment and promoting management efficiency. These results still hold under a set of robustness checks. Based on these empirical findings, we derive targeted policy recommendations.

Keywords: Digital transformation; Total factor productivity; High energy consuming enterprises; Text analysis; Mediating effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007825001460
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:100:y:2025:i:c:s1049007825001460

DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2025.102022

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Asian Economics is currently edited by C. Wiemer

More articles in Journal of Asian Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().