Digital Transformation and Green Technology Innovation in Manufacturing Enterprises: A Study Based on Big Data Text Mining

Digital transformation serves as a new driving force and engine for enterprise innovation. Meanwhile, the national strategy of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality has set new goals and requirements for the green development of the Chinese manufacturing industry. From the three-dimensional perspective of “strategy-resource-institution,” this paper explores the impact and mechanism of digital transformation on green technology innovation of Chinese manufacturing enterprises and the heterogeneous impact of the institutional logic of ownership structure. Using a sample of 1,016 A-share listed manufacturing companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2011 to 2019 and based on big data text mining and a negative binomial regression model, this study finds that: (1) Digital strategy significantly enhances green technology innovation capability of enterprises; (2) digital resource investment partially mediates the effect of digital strategy on the enhancement of green technology innovation capability; and (3) the ownership structure of enterprises plays a moderating role in the mediating relationship mentioned above. Specifically, compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) show no significant difference in the stages where digital strategy promotes green technology innovation and guides digital resource investment. However, they demonstrate higher efficiency in transforming digital resource investment into green technology innovation. The robustness test indicates that the significant effect of digital strategy and resource investment on green technology innovation in enterprises remains valid in the medium term, with a continuous enabling effect. There is no significant difference between SOEs and NSOEs in the medium and long term in promoting green technology innovation through digital transformation. Further, introducing keyword text networks to explore the structural impact of digital strategy, this study finds that digital product and manufacturing strategy are adequate strategic dimensions to enhance green technology innovation capability, and digital financial strategy and digital marketing strategy have no direct promoting effect on green technology innovation of enterprises. From the perspectives of strategies, resources, and institutions, the research findings elucidate the process mechanisms of digital acceleration in the green transformation of manufacturing and the heterogeneous effect of ownership structure and provide critical theoretical insights into the role mechanisms and contextual factors of digitalization on green innovation in manufacturing enterprises. Moreover, this study offers scientific decision-making support for incentivizing the manufacturing industry to seize the opportunities of industrial digitalization and accelerate carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.