The impact of digital transformation on female career development: dividends or divide? An empirical analysis based on the World Bank Survey Data on Chinese manufacturing companies

Abstract

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has become an important force to promote the development of enterprises, but its impact on female career development is still controversial, mainly because existing studies have not gone deep into the operational level of enterprise ICT, have not focused on the research into the use environment of ICT, and have been lacking in quantitative analysis. In this article, empirical analysis is conducted through the use of the World Bank Survey Data on Chinese Manufacturing Companies 2012 and the Chinese General Social Survey, plus the adoption of the logit model. These studies reveal that 1) the degree of enterprise informatization and the degree of IT (information technology) support can significantly promote female career development, and 2) in terms of the influence mechanism, gender culture plays an intermediary role, i.e. ICT affects female career development by promoting an equal gender culture.