Enterprise digitalization, organizational slack, and green innovation

Enterprise green innovation requires large resource investments and explains how digitalization drives green innovation from an organizational resource perspective. Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2023, this study examines the impact of digitalization and organizational slack on green innovation, and how digital innovation can lead to a win–win situation in terms of economic and environmental benefits from the perspective of sustainable development. The results show that enterprise digitalization significantly improves the quality and quantity of green innovation. This effect optimizes enterprises’ resource utilization efficiency and reduces their environmental impact, in line with key sustainable development requirements. The mechanism test reveals that digitalization enhances resource flexibility and adaptability and increases green innovation capacity by improving enterprises’ absorbed and unabsorbed slack, facilitating their green transformation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the green innovation effect of enterprise digitalization is greater for high environmental protection investments, high-pollution industries, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Digitalization technology provides a practical path to green transformation for high-pollution industries and practical support for SOEs in promoting sustainable development. This paper provides new empirical evidence for enterprises’ digital green innovation, offering important insights into their organizational optimization and innovation resource allocation in the context of sustainable development.