Effects of Supply Chain Digitization on Different Types of Corporate Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Double Machine Learning (DML)

Shaopeng Zhang (), Yuting Niu, Jiong Zhang, Jiyu Li, Sihan Wang and Yangyang Guan
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Shaopeng Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Yuting Niu: School of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Jiong Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Jiyu Li: School of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Sihan Wang: School of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Yangyang Guan: School of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

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

Abstract: Amid global resource shortage and severe climate problems, green innovation has become the key for enterprises to achieve sustainable development, and supply chain digitization brings a new opportunity to enhance the green innovation capability of enterprises. Therefore, this paper empirically investigates the differential effects of supply chain digitization (SCD) on two different green innovation strategies, namely substantive green innovation (SGI) and tactical green innovation (TGI), with 38,548 observations of Chinese listed companies in the 17-year period from 2007 to 2023 using an innovative double machine learning model. It is found that SCD can significantly enhance the substantive and tactical green innovation capabilities of enterprises, and the promotion effect on the former is more obvious. Mechanism analysis shows that SCD promotes substantive green innovation by improving the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance of enterprises, and promotes tactical green innovation by improving the management efficiency of supply chain nodes. Heterogeneity analysis shows that SCD promotes green innovation more significantly for high-tech firms, firms with high degree of internal control and low financing constraints. Our paper can be informative in addressing this differential impact of supply chain digitization on different types of corporate green innovation.

Keywords: supply chain digitization; green innovation strategies; ESG performance; double machine learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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