The financial benefits of digital technology adoption: Evidence from large language model

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Research in International Business and Finance Pub Date : 2025-08-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103136

Cheng Li , Tao Li , Shengkun Zhao , Xuankai Zhao

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Abstract

Corporate financing decisions are fundamental to firm growth and long-term competitiveness. While digital technologies have been widely adopted to improve operational efficiency and business performance, their influence on corporate financing decisions remains underexplored. This study constructs firm-level measures of digital technology adoption by using a large language model and investigates how digital adoption affects financing behavior for Chinese A-share listed firms. We find that digital technologies significantly mitigate financing constraints by lowering the cost of capital and expanding access to external funds. These benefits arise through three key channels: enhancing corporate transparency, boosting profitability, and fostering innovation. Further analysis reveals that the improvement in financing conditions driven by digital technologies is more pronounced in smaller firms and for equity financing. Our results highlight the economic significance of digital technology in mitigating financial frictions and improving capital allocation efficiency.

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采用数字技术的经济效益：来自大型语言模型的证据

企业融资决策是企业成长和长期竞争力的基础。虽然数字技术已被广泛用于提高运营效率和业务绩效，但它们对企业融资决策的影响仍未得到充分探讨。本研究采用大语言模型构建了企业层面的数字技术采用度量，并考察了数字技术采用对中国a股上市公司融资行为的影响。我们发现，数字技术通过降低资金成本和扩大获得外部资金的渠道，显著缓解了融资约束。这些好处通过三个关键渠道产生：提高公司透明度、提高盈利能力和促进创新。进一步分析表明，数字技术推动的融资条件改善在小型企业和股权融资中更为明显。我们的研究结果突出了数字技术在缓解金融摩擦和提高资本配置效率方面的经济意义。

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来源期刊

Research in International Business and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.20%

发文量

240

期刊介绍： Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) seeks to consolidate its position as a premier scholarly vehicle of academic finance. The Journal publishes high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in international finance. Papers that foster dialogue, innovation, and intellectual risk-taking in financial studies; as well as shed light on the interaction between finance and broader societal concerns are particularly appreciated. The Journal welcomes submissions that seek to expand the boundaries of academic finance and otherwise challenge the discipline. Papers studying finance using a variety of methodologies; as well as interdisciplinary studies will be considered for publication. Papers that examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are welcome. Single-country studies can also be considered for publication provided that they develop novel methodological and theoretical approaches or fall within the Journal''s priority themes. It is especially important that single-country studies communicate to the reader why the particular chosen country is especially relevant to the issue being investigated. [...] The scope of topics that are most interesting to RIBAF readers include the following: -Financial markets and institutions -Financial practices and sustainability -The impact of national culture on finance -The impact of formal and informal institutions on finance -Privatizations, public financing, and nonprofit issues in finance -Interdisciplinary financial studies -Finance and international development -International financial crises and regulation -Financialization studies -International financial integration and architecture -Behavioral aspects in finance -Consumer finance -Methodologies and conceptualization issues related to finance