The impact of digital transformation on competitive advantage: evidence from China

Chen, Lu (2024) The impact of digital transformation on competitive advantage: evidence from China. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]

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Abstract

In this study, we use a two-way fixed effect model and construct a corporate-level digital transformation index to investigate the influence of digital transformation on competitive advantage growth. We build a panel regression model utilising panel data from 1364 Chinese listed companies to investigate the influence of digital transformation on competitive advantage growth. To address the endogeneity concerns, we use the employee incompetence as instrumental variables and conduct a two-stage least squares estimation on the original model, yielding consistent results. We also confirm the robustness of our conclusions by replacing the original digital transformation variable and five detail dimensions including Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain, Cloud Comput, Big Data, and Application. Furthermore, heterogeneity test results reveal that the promotional effect of digital transformation on competitive advantage is more pronounced in companies with smaller proportion of males and younger age among executives. At last, we conduct the mechanism tests and the results show that companies' digital transformation contributes to the growth of competitive advantage by reducing their financial distress and improving their innovation level.

Item Type: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Keywords: digital transformation, competitive advantage, male ratio, executive age, financial distress
Depositing User: Chen, Lu
Date Deposited: 12 Mar 2024 03:03
Last Modified: 12 Mar 2024 03:03
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/76005

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