Leveraging corporate digitalization for green technology innovation: The mediating role of resource endowments

Abstract

In this carbon neutrality era, digitalization is booming and emerging as having an essential role in corporate green technology innovation (GTI). However, as corporate digitalization is a systematic project involving various aspects, research into its role and mechanisms in shaping GTI is expected to be enriched. Given the complexity of measuring corporate digitalization, we first provide a measure of firm-level digitalization by applying natural language processing techniques and unsupervised machine learning modelling to management discussion and analysis text. Further, drawing on the resource-based view, we reveal a positive association between corporate digitalization and GTI, and find that corporate digitalization contributes to GTI by improving resource endowments management including resource accumulation, utilization, and allocation. As carbon neutrality and digitalization are in full swing, this study advances research on digitalization and highlights its role in sustainable corporate transformation.