Public attention, political ties and digital transformation of private enterprises: Evidence from the Hurun Rich List in China

IF 2.3 3区经济学 Q2 ECONOMICS

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Pub Date : 2025-04-18 DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107030

Jingxian Zou , Yinghao Pan , Fangyu Shu , Miao Jin

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Abstract

This paper investigates how public attention affects digital transformation in Chinese private enterprises through the lens of the Hurun Rich List, a prominent ranking of China's wealthiest individuals. Using difference-in-differences analysis of publicly listed firms from 2011 to 2021, we find that companies whose controllers appear on the rich list significantly increase their digital transformation efforts by 0.581 units (1.6 % relative to sample mean). This effect is economically meaningful, equivalent to 42 % of the impact from a one standard deviation increase in firm size. The digital transformation response is stronger for firms lacking political connections, as enhanced visibility motivates innovation among these firms. In contrast, politically connected firms show minimal transformation improvements despite facing increased regulatory scrutiny, suggesting they neither leverage their connections for protection nor accelerate digital initiatives following public recognition.

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公众关注、政治关系与民营企业数字化转型：来自中国胡润富豪榜的证据

本文通过胡润百富榜（中国最富有的个人排名）来研究公众关注如何影响中国民营企业的数字化转型。通过对2011年至2021年上市公司的差异中差异分析，我们发现，控制人出现在富豪榜上的公司，其数字化转型的努力显著增加了0.581个单位（相对于样本均值的1.6%）。这种效应在经济上是有意义的，相当于企业规模每增加一个标准差所产生的影响的42%。对于缺乏政治关系的公司，数字化转型的反应更强烈，因为增强的可见性激励了这些公司的创新。相比之下，尽管面临越来越多的监管审查，但有政治关系的公司在转型方面的进步微乎其微，这表明它们既没有利用自己的关系来获得保护，也没有在公众认可后加速数字化举措。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

3.80

自引率

9.10%

发文量

392

期刊介绍： The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization is devoted to theoretical and empirical research concerning economic decision, organization and behavior and to economic change in all its aspects. Its specific purposes are to foster an improved understanding of how human cognitive, computational and informational characteristics influence the working of economic organizations and market economies and how an economy structural features lead to various types of micro and macro behavior, to changing patterns of development and to institutional evolution. Research with these purposes that explore the interrelations of economics with other disciplines such as biology, psychology, law, anthropology, sociology and mathematics is particularly welcome.