Academic Journal of Business & Management, 2026, 8(5); doi: 10.25236/AJBM.2026.080504.
Churui Yang1, Pengxiang Wang2, Yiming Xu1
1School of Humanities and Social Sciences (School of Public Administration), Beihang University, 100191, Beijing, China
2Beijing National Land and Space Big Data Center, Beijing, 101160, Beijing, China
Addressing the issue of insufficient research on the impact of digital transformation on non-financial areas, this paper empirically examines the effects and mechanisms of digital transformation on corporate ESG performance using a two-way fixed effects model, with A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2023 as the research sample. It further conducts a heterogeneity analysis from the perspectives of property rights and regions, and performs robustness checks by replacing core variables and adding fixed effects. The study finds that digital transformation significantly and positively promotes corporate ESG performance, and this conclusion is robust. At the mechanism level, digital transformation can enhance corporate ESG performance through the intermediary path of increasing patient capital. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that compared to state-owned enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises experience a stronger promoting effect of digital transformation on ESG performance; the effect in the central region is not significant, while the promoting effect in the western region is superior to that in the eastern region. This paper enriches the related research on digital transformation and corporate ESG performance, and provides suggestions from the perspectives of enterprises, policies, and investment, offering practical references for promoting the integration of digital transformation and ESG development and achieving sustainable enterprise development.
digital transformation; patient capital; corporate ESG performance
Churui Yang, Pengxiang Wang, Yiming Xu. The impact of digital transformation on corporate ESG performance: A multidimensional empirical research based on A-share listed companies. Academic Journal of Business & Management (2026), Vol. 8, Issue 5: 23-32. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJBM.2026.080504.
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