Research on Digitalization to Facilitate the Development of Green Technology Innovation in Enterprises

In the context of the rapid development of the digital economy, whether enterprise digitalization can promote green technological innovation has attracted the attention of academia. Existing studies lack a unified standard for measuring the level of enterprise digitalization and have not comprehensively and deeply examined the micro pathways through which enterprise digitalization affects green technological innovation. Unlike previous research, this paper not only measures the level of enterprise digitalization based on intangible asset data but also conducts a more refined textual analysis of the annual reports of listed companies. It uses the proportion of digital-related word frequency in the “Performance Review” section of the “Management Discussion and Analysis” to measure the actual level of enterprise digitalization and tests the constructed indicators using big data from online recruitment. On this basis, the paper examines the impact of digitalization on green technological innovation in heavily polluting industries and explores the micro mechanisms using detailed patent application data of listed companies. The study finds that digitalization in heavily polluting industries can significantly promote green technological innovation. This conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests, including IV estimation, counterfactual analysis, and changes in estimation methods.