Digital transformation and new quality productivity: Empirical analysis of the moderating role of gai technology application

Jun Cui (), Qiang Wan () and Sangwoo Shin ()

The Economics and Finance Letters, 2025, vol. 12, issue 2, 403-416

Abstract: This study explores the impact of Chinese firms' digital transformation on the evolution of new quality productivity, with a focus on the catalytic role of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) technology installation. To evaluate the hypothesized relationships, the study uses a strict econometric framework, drawing on a large panel dataset of 9,280 firm-year findings from authoritative Chinese repositories such as the CNRDS and CSMAR. The empirical findings reveal a statistically significant and positive association between organizational digitization efforts and improvements in quality-centric productivity indices. Notably, the use of GAI solutions enhances this link, serving as an important mediator in improving the efficacy of digital operations. Moreover, mechanistic analysis reveals that productivity gains are primarily mediated by enhanced innovation capacity and streamlined operations, reflected in patent activity, R&D efficiency, and improved workflow metrics. Additionally, this study employs a multifaceted validation strategy that includes propensity score matching (PSM) to reduce selection bias and heterogeneous effect tests across industry sectors and firm sizes. This study adds new theoretical and practical perspectives to the discussion of technology-driven competitive advantage by recognizing the dual mediating pathways through which digital transformation promotes productivity growth and measuring the conditional reinforcement provided by GAI.

Keywords: Digital transformation; Generative artificial intelligence; Innovation capability; New quality productivity; Operational efficiency. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://archive.conscientiabeam.com/index.php/29/article/view/4257/8599 (application/pdf)

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:pkp:teafle:v:12:y:2025:i:2:p:403-416:id:4257

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Economics and Finance Letters from Conscientia Beam
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dim Michael ().