The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Export Technology Complexity of Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on Empirical Evidence from China

Jinliang Wang and Qian Huang ()
Additional contact information
Jinliang Wang: School of Economics and Business Administration, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China
Qian Huang: School of Economics and Business Administration, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-32

Abstract: In the context of increasing external competition uncertainty and the growing maturity of digital information technology applications, digital transformation has become the crucial pathway for manufacturing enterprises to respond to market changes, enhance comprehensive competitiveness, and achieve sustainable development. In order to promote the effective implementation of the digital transformation strategy of manufacturing enterprises and enhance their export technological complexity, this paper, based on data from Chinese manufacturing listed companies and customs trade data, uses a multiple fixed effects model to explore the impact of digital transformation on the technological complexity of manufacturing exports. The results show that digital transformation significantly improves the export technological complexity of manufacturing enterprises, with innovation capability and production efficiency as the mediators. Further analysis of the research results reveals that supply chain integration and dynamic capabilities amplify these effects, exhibiting significant heterogeneity in terms of firm ownership, technological intensity, industry competition, geographic region, and stages of digital transformation. The research conclusions of this paper are of great significance for manufacturing enterprises to enhance their competitiveness in international markets and achieve sustainable development through digital transformation. However, its dependence on single-country data and fixed-period analysis limits its universality and applicability. These insights highlight the necessity of future research on the global applicability and long-term sustainability of digital transformation strategies in the manufacturing industry.

Keywords: digital transformation; export technology complexity; supply chain integration; dynamic capabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2596/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2596/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:6:p:2596-:d:1613062

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().