Digital Transformation and Corporate Resilience: Evidence from China

Under the special background of epidemic superimposed and increasingly volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity (VUCA) environment, how to improve the corporate resilience and enhance the ability of corporates to cope with external shocks is one of the major issues to corporates and the country. This study investigates the impact of digital transformation on corporate resilience and its mechanisms under crisis scenarios using the impact of COVID-19 epidemic as the research background. This study utilizes the event study methodology—a causal inference-based analytical technique—drawing on data covering all Chinese A-share listed firms, which are sourced from the China Securities Market and Accounting Research (CSMAR) and Wind databases. This study finds that digital transformation can enhance corporate resilience. The mechanism study shows that digital transformation can enhance corporate resilience by promoting human capital upgrading and improving resource allocation efficiency. This study enriches and expands the research literature on the economic consequences of corporate digital transformation and the influence factor of corporate resilience, provides systematic empirical evidence on how digital transformation affects corporate resilience, and can also provide policy suggestions for the development of the digital economy and the transformation of corporates.