The Impact of Enterprise Big Data Applications on ESG Evaluation
Promoting the deep integration of the use of big data in firms and corporate environmental,social and governance(ESG)evaluation is a key measure to accelerate the construction of Digital China,.This paper conducts a text analysis of the annual reports of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms from 2014 to 2021,creatively constructs a series of firm big data use indicators from patent data and manually organises firm technology patent data related to the adoption of big data in firm operations.From this,the paper explores in depth the impact of firm big data use on corporate ESG evaluations and its internal mediation mechanism.The study reveals that:(1)the use of big data in firms can significantly improve ESG evaluation;(2)the use of big data in firms can significantly affect comprehensive ESG evaluations and its three dimensions,green innovation,corporate philanthropy and internal control;(3)after a series of robustness tests,the conclusion remains strong;and(4)in the extended study,it is observed that differences in cultural tradition,environmental policies and financial development can have significant heterogeneous effects on the improvement generated by the use of big data in ESG evaluation,with environmental policies having the most pronounced effect.Firms should therefore be actively encouraged to use big data in environmental protection,social responsibility and corporate governance,and should be continuously supported to formulate and implement customised ESG strategies,thus contributing concerted efforts to the construction of digital economy and Beautiful China.
big dataESG evaluationgreen innovationcorporate philanthropyinternal control