Total Factor Productivity Of Enterprises Research Articles

CEO stability and enterprise total factor productivity from the perspective of dual carbon: a mechanism test based on green innovation

PurposeThrough this study, the aim is to provide reference for the improvement of CEO related theories, the reform of internal governance mechanisms and compensation systems in enterprises, and ultimately contribute to economic and social development and the achievement of dual carbon goals.Design/methodology/approachIn the context of accelerating the implementation of the “dual carbon” goal and promoting sustainable economic and social development, this paper builds a panel data model based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019 to empirically test the impact of CEO stability on green innovation and total factor productivity of enterprises.FindingsThe results show that CEO stability has a positive role in promoting enterprise total factor productivity and green innovation and enterprise green innovation also has a positive role in promoting total factor productivity; Heterogeneity testing found that CEO stability has no significant impact on green innovation in state-owned enterprises. Corporate green innovation has a partial mesomeric effect between CEO stability and total factor productivity; The proportion of independent directors has a negative moderating effect on CEO stability and corporate green innovation, while equity incentive has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between CEO stability, corporate total factor productivity and green innovation.Originality/valueFirst, it develops the research on CEO stability and its economic consequences. Second, it expands the impact of CEO stability on heterogeneous enterprises. Third, provides new ideas for the reform of internal governance mechanism and salary system of enterprises.

COVID-19, Financing Constraints and Total Factor Productivity of Enerprises

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As the COVID-19 epidemic swept the world in early 2020, it is worth watching how it affects the total factor productivity of enterprises. Based on the theory of information asymmetry and the data of A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2021, this paper conducts an empirical study on the relationship between COVID-19 and the total factor productivity of enterprises. The results show that the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic can significantly reduce the total factor productivity of enterprises, and the conclusion is still true after a series of robustness tests. Taking the financing constraint as an intervening variable, it clearly reveals a transmission mechanism, that is to say, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic exacerbates the financing constraint of the enterprise, thus it makes the total factor productivity of the enterprise reduce. It is further found that the above effects are more obvious for small and medium-sized enterprises and non-intelligent enterprises. Based on this, the government should implement some active economic development policies to create a free, relaxed and orderly market environment for enterprise financing. At the same time, enterprises should not only pay attention to digital and intelligent development, and transform into technology-intensive enterprises, but also strengthen the awareness of worry. Enterprises should store "more grain" for preparing for the cold winter.</p>

Digital transformation and total factor productivity

This study investigates the influence of digital transformation on total factor productivity of enterprises, along with the mechanisms driving this impact. The results suggest that innovation in digital technology can increase total factor productivity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is particularly favorable in state-owned enterprises. Moreover, the study of mechanisms uncovers that digital transformation can enhance corporate innovation. Our findings provide timely policy implications for governments concerning digital transformation.

Does the implementation of green finance regulation promote the high-quality development of enterprises? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China.

The improvement of enterprise total factor productivity and labor productivity is the micro-embodiment of high-quality economic development. Green finance relies on the dual functions of resource allocation and environmental regulation to guide enterprises to adjust their mode of operation through incentive and restraint mechanisms, attach importance to energy conservation and environmental protection, and guide enterprises to develop with high quality. Taking the construction of the green financial supervision system in 2016 as a quasi-natural experiment, we constructed a difference-in-difference model to investigate the impact and mechanism of green finance on the high-quality development of enterprises, based on the panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2006 to 2020. The results show that the implementation of green finance effectively promotes the high-quality development of enterprises. This promotion effect is heterogeneous from perspectives of enterprise-specific characteristics, executive education background, and environmental regulation intensity. The influence mechanisms mainly rely on tightening financial constraints, upgrading the level of green technology innovation, and improving the quality of internal control. These findings provide an important decision-making reference for better implementing green finance policies and promoting high-quality economic development under the green and low-carbon concept and carbon peak carbon neutrality goals.

Entrepreneurship and Export Product Quality Improvement

Entrepreneurship is the sustainable driving force and stable source of economic development, and it is an important guarantee for the continuous improvement of export product quality and high-quality economic development. This paper selects entrepreneurship and export product quality as research objects. It measures the export product quality at the enterprise level using data from the China Industrial Enterprise Database and the China Customs Import and Export Trade Database. Furthermore, based on matching entrepreneurship at the macro-level and the export product quality at the micro-level, the impact and mechanism of entrepreneurship on the export product quality are empirically examined. It was found that entrepreneurial innovation and entrepreneurship further significantly contribute to the improvement of export product quality by promoting the total factor productivity of enterprises. Entrepreneurial innovation and entrepreneurship do not significantly contribute to the export product quality of state-owned and collective enterprises, while they significantly contribute to privately-owned, independent legal entities, Hong Kong–Macao–Taiwan, and foreign-funded enterprises. Furthermore, the promoting effect on privately-owned and independent enterprises is greater than that on Hong Kong–Macao–Taiwan and foreign-funded enterprises. Further analysis shows that improving the rule of law, reducing excessive government intervention, and improving the market mechanism for products and production factors, as well as vigorously developing the non-state-owned economy, will all be conducive to the cultivation and development of entrepreneurs and better promotion of the improvement of export product quality.

Industrial robots and firm productivity

Industrial robotics has become a driving force in the development of high-quality manufacturing enterprises. This paper investigates the impact of industrial robotics on the total factor productivity of enterprises and its mechanism of action through the use of data from A-shares of Chinese companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges from 2007 to 2019. We found that the use of industrial robots significantly increases the total factor productivity of enterprises, findings that still hold when Bartik instrumental variables are constructed. The mechanism of action suggests that industrial robot application improves both the human capital structure and the innovation capability of enterprises, thus increasing total factor productivity. Heterogeneity analysis shows that industrial robot applications are more likely to increase total factor productivity in firms that are non-state-owned and small scale and have political affiliations, low market concentration, low financialization, and high managerial competence. The findings of this study will help to accurately assess the productivity effects of industrial robotics, and the government should continue to promote the integration of industrial robotics and manufacturing development and actively cultivate independent innovation capabilities and professional skills in the field of industrial robotics in order to increase total factor productivity in enterprises.

Artificial Intelligence and Green Total Factor Productivity: The Moderating Effect of Slack Resources

With the emergence of the digital economy, digital technologies—such as artificial intelligence (AI)—have provided new possibilities for the green development of enterprises. Green total factor productivity is a key indicator of green sustainable development. While traditional total factor productivity does not consider the constraints of natural resources and the environment, green total factor productivity remedies this deficiency by incorporating environmental protection indicators, such as pollutant emissions, into the accounting system. To further clarify the relationship between AI technology and corporate green total factor productivity, this study uses a two-way fixed effects model to examine the impact of AI technology on the corporate green total factor productivity of A-share listed companies in China from 2013 to 2020 while examining how corporate slack resources affect the relationship between the two. The results show that the AI application positively contributes to the green total factor productivity of enterprises. Meanwhile, firms’ absorbed, unabsorbed, and potential slack resources all positively moderate the positive impact of AI technology on firms’ green total factor productivity. This study offers a theoretical basis for a comprehensive understanding of digital technology and enterprises’ green development. It also contributes practical insights for the government to formulate relevant policies and for enterprises to use digital technology to attain green and sustainable development.

Resource curse, economic efficiency and green recovery based on three-subject framework

We examine the effects of environmental resources policy on enterprises total factor productivity (TFP), based on data of manufacturing companies from 2008 to 2017 and a three-subject framework of central government, local governments, and enterprises. A difference-in-differences assessment strategy is constructed using China's new environmental protection law as a quasi-natural experiment for the regulatory environment. The results show that the new Environmental Protection Law can promote enterprises TFP. And after performing multiple robustness tests, the results remain significant. We then explore the heterogeneous effects of enterprise political resources and find that there is a “political resource curse” effect in Porter hypothesis, i.e. stringent environmental regulations cannot promote the TFP of enterprises with political resources. Local government political connections may have led to a “political resource curse” effect, rather than central government. This article accordingly proposes targeted policy recommendations to improve the total factor productivity of enterprises and promote national economic development.

Quality of Mandatory Social Responsibility Disclosure and Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

This study attempts to determine whether improving the quality of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosure can have a positive impact on a firm’s development. To this end, an empirical analysis is conducted to establish a relationship between the quality of mandatory CSR information disclosure and a firm’s total factor productivity (TFP), using data from A-share listed companies in China over the period 2009–2020. The results show that: (1) Improving the quality of mandatory CSR disclosure leads to a significant increase in a firm’s TFP. (2) By alleviating a firm’s financing constraints and agency costs, the improved quality of mandatory CSR disclosure effectively enhances the firm’s investment efficiency and innovation capacity, leading to higher TFP. This research extends the influence of CSR disclosure on the economic development outcomes of Chinese firms, and provides theoretical guidance for the development and improvement of CSR disclosure mechanisms in emerging economies.

Digital Transformation, Service-Oriented Manufacturing, and Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from A-Share Listed Companies in China

Promoting corporate total factor productivity is important content for high-quality development in the manufacturing industry. Under the background of digitalization, probing whether digital transformation affects corporate total factor productivity is worth further study. We investigate the digitalization level of China’s listed manufacturing companies from a micro perspective using text analysis methods and empirically study whether and how corporate digital transformation affects its total factor productivity. We reveal that: First, moderate digital transformation improves the total factor productivity of manufacturing firms significantly, and there is a nonlinear inverted U-shaped effect between them, which is robust across different methods of measuring digital transformation and TFP and samples and passes the sensitivity analysis. Second, mechanism examination verifies that the promotion effects that digital transformation provides on corporate total factor productivity is mainly through promoting service-oriented manufacturing, technological innovation, and enterprise-scale effect. Third, that promotion effect is more intensified when the company is state-owned, or the company is non-key pollution monitored. Finally, with the deepening of digitalization, its positive promotion effect on corporates’ total factor productivity varies—showing a significant threshold feature, which is much stronger when the degree is lower than the critical value. This paper argues that digitalization has a marginal decreasing boosting effect on enterprise total factor productivity after reaching a certain degree. The study plays an important role in guiding the current promotion of enterprise digital transformation.

Digital finance and enterprise financing constraints: Structural characteristics and mechanism identification

Using the panel data of A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020, we demonstrate that the WW index can characterize the level of enterprise financing constraints in China more effectively. We investigate the effect of regional digital finance (DF) development on enterprise financing constraints. This study found that DF can significantly alleviate enterprise financing constraints, and the effect is greater for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and private enterprises. DF can partially correct the size discrimination and ownership discrimination of traditional finance on private SMEs, as well as the mismatch of financial resources. Further, the results revealed that DF can alleviate information asymmetry in the securities market and between banks and enterprises and improve the external financing capabilities of enterprises. Moreover, DF can increase the enterprise's total factor productivity (TFP) and optimize the internal financing capacity of enterprises. Overall, DF will significantly ease enterprise financing constraints.

How Does Enterprise Digital Transformation Affect Total Factor Productivity? Based on the Information Intermediary Role of Analysts’ Attention

In the era of Industry 4.0, digital transformation has become an important strategic choice in driving enterprise development. However, there are few studies on how digital transformation affects the total factor productivity of enterprises. In order to fill this theoretical gap, this study explored the impact of digital transformation on total factor productivity from the perspective of information transmission that analysts focus on. Based on data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2021, this work constructed a fixed effects model and a mesomeric effect model. The experimental results show the following: (1) the digital transformation of enterprises significantly improves total factor productivity; (2) the attention of analysts has significantly improved the total factor productivity of enterprises; (3) enterprise digital transformation can significantly improve analysts’ attention, which plays an intermediary role between enterprise digital transformation and total factor productivity; (4) the heterogeneity analysis showed that digital transformation has a more significant promoting effect on the total factor productivity of tertiary industry enterprises and enterprises with lower competitiveness in their respective industries. For the first time, this study explored the mechanism by which digital transformation impacts total factor productivity from the perspective of analysts. It is necessary to encourage enterprises to attach importance to the role of analysts in information transmission in the process of digital transformation. It is suggested that enterprises formulate strategies according to the characteristics of their industries in digital transformation, and the government should formulate differentiation strategies according to the different industries and the different levels of competition between industries in the national economy.

Can Confucian culture promote enterprise total factor productivity? Evidence from China

PurposeThis study examines whether Confucian culture can promote enterprise total factor productivity (TFP), and it also studies how transmission mechanism works on enterprise TFP.Design/methodology/approachBased on the data of A-share listed companies on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2008 to 2019, this study measures the influence of Confucian culture on enterprise TFP by the number of Confucian academies and Confucian temples within three radius ranges of a company's registered address.FindingsThe empirical results show that Confucian culture has a positive effect on the enterprise TFP. The transmission mechanism test shows that Confucian culture can promote the TFP of Chinese enterprises through reducing agency cost, improving agency efficiency and enhancing innovation.Practical implicationsThe findings in this study provide implications for policymakers, scholars and enterprises. The results show that Confucian culture can enhance the TFP of Chinese enterprises. Especially in emerging markets including China, the Confucian culture, as an informal institution, can effectively complement formal institutions, promoting enterprise TFP.Originality/valueThis study expands the literature on Confucian culture in two aspects: the influence of Confucian culture on TFP and its transmission mechanism. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to identify a link between Confucian culture and enterprise TFP.

Research on the Influence of Digital Transformation on Enterprise Internal Control Quality

Digital transformation has become a new engine driving the development of enterprises. Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed manufacturing enterprises from 2008 to 2020, this paper measured the intensity of enterprise digital transformation with the help of machine learning method, and empirically investigated the impact mechanism of digital transformation on the quality of enterprise's internal control. It is found that digital transformation can significantly improve the quality of internal control. Mechanism analysis shows that digital transformation has a positive impact on the quality of internal control mainly by reducing agency costs and increasing the shareholding ratio of institutional investors. The results of heterogeneity analysis indicate that the promotion effect of digital transformation on the quality of internal control is more significant in enterprises with small scale and strong manager's ability. Digitization improves the total factor productivity of enterprises by promoting the quality of internal control.

Administrative reform and the disposal of zombie enterprises: evidence from China.

The study investigates the effects of drastic institutional changes on the reduction of zombie enterprises in China and the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. We employed data from the ASIF from 1998 to 2007 and adapted the difference-in-difference approach to analyze the effects based on China's investment approval system reform. We find that the reform can reduce the proportion of zombie enterprises by 13.3%. This result is driven by competition and scale effects. The former reduces institutional transaction costs by 12.8% and increases innovation capacity by 6.1%. The latter significantly improves the total factor productivity of enterprises; the reform promoted the expansion of enterprise size by 7.1% and the enhancement of market accommodation capacity by 13.2%. The reform had a weak effect on state-owned and non-competitive industrial zombie enterprises. This paper contributes to debates concerning the effect of institutions on entrepreneurship and the disposal of small zombie enterprises.

The impact of declined social insurance contribution rate on enterprise total factor productivity: Evidence from China

This paper examines the effect of declined social insurance contribution rate on total factor productivity. Taking listed companies in China as observation samples, we show a positive association between the social security payment rate decrease and total factor productivity. Further, we find that financing constraints play a strengthening role in diminishing social insurance contribution rate to increase firm productivity, and the effect is more pronounced for companies with higher financing constraints. This results also suggest that the reduction of social insurance contribution rate on the change of total factor productivity varies from different regions, ownership and industries, among which the central and western regions, state-owned enterprises and manufacturing enterprises have a relatively stronger effect on the improvement of productivity. Our study empirically tests the policy effect of lowering the social insurance contribution rate, and provides important implications related to the government formulating the phased social insurance fee reduction policy.

The driving effect of digital economy on green transformation of manufacturing

Under the double pressure of economic downturn and climate deterioration, the Chinese government needs to use the “double carbon” policy to drive the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. This article takes A-share manufacturing listed companies as the research object, constructs the enterprise digital economy investment index by text analysis and expert scoring method, and represents the degree of green transformation by enterprise green total factor productivity. At the theoretical level, the impact mechanism of the digital economy empowering green transformation in the manufacturing industry is hypothesized. The relevant hypotheses were tested through econometric empirical evidence, and the econometric model significantly passed the robustness test, proving that the digital economy empowers the development of green transformation in the manufacturing industry significantly. This article reveals that the digital economy promotes the green total factor productivity of enterprises by enhancing their innovation capability, improving the efficiency of production factor flow, and increasing their emission costs, but the factor intensity and the nature of enterprise owners will have different effects on the green transformation of the manufacturing industry enabled by the digital economy. This article explores the internal mechanism of green transformation development in the digital economy-enabled manufacturing industry and provides empirical evidence for enterprises to formulate development strategies and for governments to issue guiding policies.

Research on the impact of digital transformation on Enterprise Risk

This paper selects Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share companies from 2011 to 2020 as research samples to explore the impact of digital transformation on enterprise market risk and its mechanism.The results show that digital transformation can effectively reduce the market risks faced by enterprises. Mechanism test shows that digitalization reduces enterprise risks by improving enterprise total factor productivity and alleviating financing constraints, and production efficiency and financing constraints play a part of the intermediary effect.The conclusion of this paper has certain reference significance for boosting the confidence of enterprises in digitalization and reducing the market risk of enterprises.

Digital Government Development, Local Governments’ Attention Distribution and Enterprise Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from China

Building digital government is an important means for the government to improve the public service ability and optimize the business environment, which directly affects the production and operation activities of micro-enterprises. Based on the panel data of listed enterprises and municipal government portal website performance in China, this paper empirically investigates the impact of digital government development on enterprise total factor productivity (TFP) and the moderating effect of the local government’s attention distribution. The research results showed that digital government development significantly improved the enterprise TFP, and this conclusion remained unchanged after a series of robustness tests using instrumental variables, one-stage lag of explained variables, and debiased machine learning models. We also found that the greater the pressure faced by local governments and the longer the chief officials’ tenure, the more attention local governments paid to building digital government, and the more obvious the role of digital government development in promoting enterprise TFP. Heterogeneity test results showed that the information disclosure, online service, and public participation all had a positive effect on enterprise TFP, while the user experience had no effect on it. Digital government development had a more obvious role in promoting enterprise TFP of central and western regions, non-SOEs, and technology-intensive enterprises. Moreover, reducing enterprise rent-seeking, attracting new enterprise entry, and increasing enterprise R&D investment are important mechanisms for digital government development to improve enterprise TFP.

How Does Digital Transformation Facilitate Enterprise Total Factor Productivity? The Multiple Mediators of Supplier Concentration and Customer Concentration

Nowadays, no organization or sector is immune to the influences of digital transformation. It has been generally recognized as a significant promoter of corporate efficiency and effectiveness. However, the literature on whether and how digital transformation can facilitate corporate total factor productivity is scarce. In this case, this paper aims to empirically investigate whether and how digital transformation can boost a firm’s total factor productivity. Using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2007–2020 and structural equation model analyses in STATA 16.0, this paper identifies that (1) digital technology, one dimension of digital transformation, has no significant effects on enterprise total factor productivity, while digital application, the other dimension of digital transformation, can directly enhance enterprise total factor productivity; (2) both digital technology and digital application can indirectly boost enterprise total factor productivity through the decreasing of supplier concentration; and (3) digital technology adversely affects enterprise total factor productivity through the increasing of customer concentration, and digital application may positively affect enterprise total factor productivity through the decreasing of customer concentration. Our study is one of the first to explore the mediating effect mechanism of the relationship between digital transformation and enterprise total factor productivity from the perspective of supply chain management.