Can state ownership help facilitate the digital transformation of private sector enterprises? Evidence from China

Introduction According to the Digital China Development Report 2022, China’s digital economy surged in size to 45.5 trillion Yuan during 2021, constituting 39.8% of the country’s GDP. This transformation established the digital economy as a significant driving factor behind China’s overall economic advancement (Ma and Lin, 2023 , Zhang et al. 2024 ). The private sector enterprises (PSEs) in China have witnessed a swift expansion in recent years. They now constitute 90% of the nation’s businesses, contributing over 50% of its tax revenue, driving 60% of its GDP, fostering 70% of its technological innovation, and accounting for 80% of its employment opportunities Footnote 1 . The ability of PSEs to effectively implement digital transformation is important for the long-term development of China’s digital economy. Meanwhile, Petani et al. ( 2023 ) highlight that digital transformation is essential for ensuring organizational survival and achieving business success. However, digital transformation often entails high capital investment, technical difficulties, and a long return period (Liu et al. 2022 ; Xu and Tan, 2024 , Eller et al. 2023 , and Fan et al. 2024 ). Compared with state-owned enterprises (SOEs), PSEs in China frequently lack sufficient economic resources to assist with their digital […]

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