Does corporate digital transformation affect investor trading behaviour? – A perspective based on investor divergence

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper takes A-share listed companies during 2010–2021 as the research object, and finds that the digital transformation (DT) of enterprises affects investors’ trading behaviours; more specifically, the digital transformation of enterprises increases investor divergence. This paper also finds that external governance factors mitigate the impact of digital transformation on investor divergence; specifically, analyst tracking mitigates the impact of digital transformation on investor divergence by alleviating information asymmetry. As more professional investors, institutional investors have stronger information mining and analysis capabilities, so the impact of digital transformation on investor divergence could also be mitigated with the increase in the proportion of institutional investors. The intermediary mechanism test suggests that corporate digital transformation triggers investor divergence by increasing surplus volatility. Further research finds that, firstly, different approaches to digital transformation have different impacts, with digital transformation through self-developed technology being more likely to trigger investor divergence. Secondly, different firm natures have different impacts, with the digital transformation of non-high-tech firms having relatively greater impacts on investor divergence. Finally, the digital transformation of non-state-owned enterprises has greater impact on investor analysis.