Sustainable Digital Shifts in Chinese Transport and Logistics: Exploring Green Innovations and Their ESG Implications

Abstract

This study, situated in the context of China’s transportation and logistics industry, explores the impact of digital transformation on corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, as well as the role played by green innovation. Analyzing data from 95 A-share listed transportation companies from 2011 to 2021, this paper examines the relationship between digital transformation and corporate ESG performance, drawing on information asymmetry and agency theories. The research finds that digital transformation significantly elevates corporate ESG levels, with more pronounced effects in state-owned and large enterprises. The degree of financing constraints modulates this relationship, indicating a stronger enhancement of ESG performance by digital transformation under lower financing constraints. Moreover, green innovation serves as a mediator between digital transformation and corporate ESG performance, revealing that digital transformation boosts ESG outcomes through fostering green innovation. The contribution of this study lies in providing new insights into the relationship between digital transformation and corporate ESG performance in a specific industry context, expanding the field through a lens of mechanisms and conditions, and underscoring the central mediating influence of green innovation.

The Effect of Market-Based Environmental Regulations on Green Technology Innovation—The Regulatory Effect Based on Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Firstly, enterprises can only secure credit resources through the adoption of green technological innovations. Secondly, once enterprises effectively implement green technology innovation measures to enhance environmental benefits, financial institutions become more inclined to provide financing support [16,17,[35][36][37][38]. Consequently, the enterprise's desire and need for green technological innovation are bolstered by these two factors.…”

“…The regional categorization of listed companies was determined according to the provincial cities specified in the relevant database. To ensure the accuracy of the results of the study, referring to Xing et al ( 2023) [4] and Yu et al (2024) [38], we processed the data according to the following steps: (1) Firms with ST, *ST, and PT statuses were excluded. (2) Samples from the financial sector and real estate sector were excluded.…”

Assessing the Digital Transformation in the Maritime Transport Sector: A Case Study of Croatia

“…The terms that are often associated with digital transformation include digitization (converting analog into digital format [2]) and digitalization, which entails leveraging IT or digital technologies to modify existing business processes [1,3]. As a step further, digital transformation encompasses not only the implementation of new technologies but also the development of digital strategies, fostering a digital culture, and creating new business models [4][5][6][7].…”