Digital economic, resource curse and the development of low-carbon transformation

Abstract

In the evolving digital economy (DE) landscape, businesses face a dynamic mix of challenges and opportunities. Many studies argue that the abundance of digital resources may lead to a phenomenon known as the “resource curse (RC)," where organizations struggle to effectively leverage these resources to achieve their strategic goals, particularly in the crucial realm of low-carbon transformation and progress. This inquiry delves into the empirical examination of DE's influence and the underlying mechanisms on enterprises' low-carbon transformational evolution (LCTE), drawing upon a dataset of A-share companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2011 to 2020. The study yields several insights: firstly, DE facilitates LCTE, with a pronounced enhancement effect in eastern locales, non-resource-intensive municipalities, and metropolitan hubs; secondly, RC is found to exert a negative moderating influence on the stimulative impact DE has on LCTE; thirdly, DE augments LCTE through an escalation of corporate green technological innovation (GTI) while RC dampens DE's positive influence on GTI. While DE substantially contributes to the progress in LCTE, it presents various potential perils and challenges. It is incumbent upon business enterprises to strategically leverage DE advantages, circumvent its prospective pitfalls, and accomplish the objective of low-carbon transition, a task that demands immediate scholarly attention and investigation.