The Impact Mechanism of Digital Transformation on the Risk-Taking Level of Chinese Listed Companies

Abstract

As the core engine of the digital economy, the digital transformation can make modern enterprises survive and develop better now. By the sample data of listed companies in the years from 2015 to 2020, this paper identifies the degree of enterprise digital transformation through text analysis, empirically examines the impact mechanism of digital transformation on corporate risk-taking, and fully considers the heterogeneity problems. The findings are as follows: (1) Digital transformation can improve the level of enterprise risk taking, especially the improvement of enterprise financial stability and strategic risk taking; (2) in terms of enterprise attribute structure, digital transformation can significantly enhance the risk-taking level of non-state-owned enterprises and high-tech enterprises; (3) the mechanism identification test finds that innovation-driven and enterprise value enhancement play a strengthening role in the role of digital transformation in promoting enterprise risk-taking level, and resource allocation efficiency as a mediating path weakens the role of digital transformation on enterprise risk-taking level. This study provides a basis for promoting the improvement of enterprises risk-taking: digital transformation can help enterprises maintain financial stability, improve innovation output capacity, enterprise value level, enterprise risk-taking capacity and sustainable development. At the same time, the Chinese government should take measures to further stimulate the willingness of state-owned enterprises to digital transformation.