Research on the impact of digital transformation on innovative high-quality development in the context of environmental regulation in agricultural enterprises

Abstract

Digital transformation is an important strategic choice for agricultural enterprises to adapt to economic development in the new era. The innovation quality of patents with core technology and high commercial value is significantly higher than that of low-quality patents such as weak patents developed through technological imitation. This study investigates the impact of digital transformation on innovative high-quality development in the context of environmental regulation in agricultural enterprises for the timeframe from 2012 to 2020. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the goal of improving innovation quality can be achieved through digital transformation in agricultural companies. The results show that digital transformation can effectively promote the improvement of innovation quality in companies, and environmental regulation has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between them. “Violating agricultural operation” is a specific appellation for the diversified management of listed agricultural companies, and it is one of the management modes of agricultural enterprises. For listed agricultural companies, the greater the degree of enterprise diversification, the greater the degree of “violating agricultural operation”. The influence mechanism test shows that “violating agricultural operation” plays a part in mediating effect in the process of digital transformation promoting innovation quality improvement.