Does Artificial Intelligence Promote Sustainable Growth of Exporting Firms?

Xiulian Chen, Yanan Wu () and Yangyang Long
Additional contact information
Xiulian Chen: School of Economics, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Yanan Wu: School of Economics, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Yangyang Long: School of Economics, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: Against the backdrop of the accelerated development of the global digital economy and the deepening advancement of the sustainable development agenda, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the core driving force behind the new round of technological revolution, reshaping the competitive landscape of international trade. Chinese export companies are facing dual pressures from technological barriers imposed by developed countries and cost competition from emerging economies, making traditional development models unsustainable. In this context, exploring how AI technology can promote the sustainable growth of export companies holds significant theoretical and practical significance. This article employs a three-dimensional fixed-effects nonlinear quadratic model to empirically analyze the dynamic relationship between AI adoption and the growth of export companies, based on data from Chinese A-share listed export companies. The analysis results show that AI has a significant dynamic nonlinear effect on the growth of export companies, which is initially inhibitory and then becomes promotional. In the early stages, due to high technology adaptation costs, company growth is somewhat inhibited. However, as the technology matures, AI significantly enhances the company’s innovation capabilities and competitiveness, thereby promoting its long-term sustainable growth. This result remains valid after a series of robustness tests. This effect is significant in non-state-owned enterprises and medium-to-low technology industries, but not in state-owned enterprises and high-technology industries. Three pathways—enterprise efficiency, innovation investment, and levels of digital factor investment—enhance this dynamic effect. Finally, based on the above research findings, this study proposes policy recommendations for enterprises to leverage artificial intelligence technology to promote the growth of export companies.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; export firm growth; listed export enterprises; export technology complexity; dynamic effects; sustainability of firm growth (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/2071-1050/17/16/7273/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7273/ (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:16:p:7273-:d:1722659

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 ().