The Financing Value of Corporate Digital Transformation:Based on a New Measure of Digital Transformation
How to accurately characterize the process of corporate digital transformation is of great challenge for the research in the field of digital e-conomy.In this paper,we innovatively identify the digital-related investment projects and calculates the actual economic costs incurred by corporate digit-al transformation.Based on this novel measure of digital transformation,we examine the actual impact of corporate digital transformation on debt financing in China.We find that digital transformation can diminish information asymmetry and debt default risk,thereby reducing the cost of debt.Quantitative a-nalysis reveals that every 10 million yuan increase in digital investment will reduce cost of debt by about 0.3 percentage points on average.We then inves-tigate into the structural differences in the aforementioned impact and find that it has a"supportive effect"for highly financing-constrained firms and a"governance effect"for firms with weak corporate governance.Further,the extended research shows that corporate digital transformation also improves firms'ability to acquire long-term loan and trade credit financing,bringing considerable financing value to firms.Our research provides a new analytical tool for the quantitative research in digital economy,and explores the micro-level impact and mechanism of digital technology on the real economy from the perspective of credit financing.Such insights carry pivotal implications for China's endeavors to address the challenges of corporate financing constraints,while concurrently advancing its economic development towards a trajectory of high quality.
Digital InvestmentDigital TransformationCost of DebtAvailability of Debt
万方数据
维普
