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Digital Transformation, Board Diversity, and Corporate Sustainable Development
Open accessAbstract
The rapid advancement of information technologies, such as the Internet of Things and big data, has created favorable conditions for digital transformation, which has main effects on the sustainable development of enterprises. Drawing upon stakeholder theory, this article employs text analysis to construct indicators for corporate digital transformation using data from A-share listed companies between 2015 and 2022. Meanwhile, ESG performance is utilized as a measure of corporate sustainable development. Through both theoretical inquiry and case study, this study investigates the influence of digital transformation on sustainable development in enterprises and arrives at the following conclusions: (1) Digital transformation exerts a substantial positive effect on the sustainable development of enterprises. Board diversity plays a moderating role in this relationship; age diversity and gender diversity weaken its promoting effect while experience diversity enhances its positive influence. These findings remain robust after conducting various tests to ensure validity and addressing endogeneity concerns; (2) Heterogeneity tests reveal that compared to non-state-owned enterprises and high-tech firms, digital transformation has a more pronounced promoting effect on sustainable development levels within state-owned enterprises and non-high-tech companies. This article offers novel research perspectives on how digitization drives corporate sustainability in the digital era while providing practical insights for companies aiming to achieve both digital transformation and sustainable development.
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“Still, there is limited discussion on how these pressures shape HR policies and organizational welfare practices.”
From Evaluation of the Sustainability of Organizational Welfare and Human Resources to Improving Long-Term Performance (2025) · cites this paper as Zhang et al. (2024)
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“DT significantly improves ESG performance, particularly in state-owned enterprises and non-high-tech firms (Zhang et al., 2024).”
From Evaluation of the Sustainability of Organizational Welfare and Human Resources to Improving Long-Term Performance (2025) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2024
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, C., Tian, X., Sun, X., Xu, J., & Gao, Y.
- Affiliations
- Ocean University of China (CN)
- Qingdao University (CN)
- Qingdao Agricultural University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Tian, Xinyu
- Gao, Yu
- Venue
- Sustainability
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2024-09-06
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 7788
- ISSN
- 2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4402326855
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 4
- FWCI
- 7.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Economy and Transformation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Sustainability and Innovation in Business
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Digital Innovation in Industries
- Keywords
- digital transformation, board diversity, corporate sustainability, ESG performance, age diversity, gender diversity, experience diversity, state-owned enterprises, high-tech enterprises, moderating effect, A-share listed companies
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