Breadth of firm attention to digitalization and ESG performance: A moderate attention model

This study develops a moderate attention model by integrating the attention-based view (ABV) and the principle of the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect (TMGT effect) to investigate how the breadth of firm attention to digitalization influences the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of firms in China's manufacturing industry. Our findings reveal that the breadth of firm attention to digitalization has an inverted U-shaped effect on ESG performance, indicating that moderate rather than maximal breadth of firm attention to digitalization balances information processing efficiency and opportunity exploitation, yielding the best ESG performance. We also find that the effect of the breadth of firm attention to digitalization in impacting ESG is enhanced by the global market structure of firms through expanding the scope of the breadth of firm attention to digitalization's positive effect, but is attenuated by industrial competition intensity through reducing the height of the breadth of firm attention to digitalization's positive effect.