The Association Between Suppliers’ Digital Transformation and Focal Firms’ Green Innovation: A Supply Chain Information Processing Perspective

Based on Information Processing Theory (IPT), this study examines the relationship between suppliers’ digital transformation (SDT) and focal firms’ green innovation (FGI) from a supply chain information-processing perspective. It identifies three boundary conditions—geographical distance, environmental regulation intensity, and analyst attention—and further examines their moderating roles in the relationship between SDT and FGI. A focal firm–year dataset of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2022 was constructed through data matching. A series of robustness checks were conducted to assess the robustness of the findings. The results indicate that SDT is positively associated with FGI, consistent with the proposed information-processing explanation involving information transmission and information integration across the supply chain. Moreover, this positive association becomes more pronounced as geographical distance decreases, environmental regulation intensity increases, and analyst attention rises. Supplementary analysis provides indirect evidence consistent with the proposed information-processing perspective. By systematically examining the relationship between SDT and FGI beyond organizational boundaries and developing an information-processing explanation involving information transmission and integration, this study highlights the role of supplier–focal firm interactions in green innovation, thereby contributing to the literature on the determinants of green innovation and information spillovers.