How does digital transformation affect corporate resilience: a moderation perspective study

ABSTRACT

In the context of the accelerated development of the digital economy and the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, does digital transformation inevitably improve corporate resilience? Based on measuring the moderation of corporate digital transformation, this paper examines the dynamic relationship between digital transformation and corporate resilience using the theory of new structural economics and double machine learning methods. The results show that the more moderate the digital transformation, the higher the level of corporate resilience. Agency costs, financing constraints, and irrational decision-making bias constitute important influencing mechanisms. Further analysis reveals that the resilience-enhancing effect of moderate digital transformation is more pronounced among corporations with high levels of corporate governance, low levels of information asymmetry, more diverse executive backgrounds and in manufacturing corporates. The relevant findings of this paper provide guidance and decision-making references for promoting the high-quality development of corporates.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital transformation
• moderation
• corporate resilience
• double machine learning
• new structural economics

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C55
• G32
• L25
• M15
• O33

Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers and the editorial board for their valuable comments, which have led to the overall improvement of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2024.2350700

Notes

¹ VUCA is a combination of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity used to describe fast-changing, volatile business environments and challenges.

² On the one hand, the more moderate the digital transformation, the more resilient the corporate. On the other hand, the better the corporate resilience, the higher the level of acceptance and adoption of new technologies, and the more capable it is of mobilizing and allocating resources to support the optimal process of digital transformation, with consequent endogeneity issues that may lead to a misinterpretation of the relationship between digital transformation moderateness and corporate resilience.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education’s Philosophy and Social Science Late Stage Funding Programme [grant number 21JHQ068].