Impact of Digital Transformation Peer Effects on Corporate Welfare: Evidence from China's A-Share Listed Grain-Related Enterprises

Food security is vital to national security, and digital transformation boosts grain firms’ competitiveness. This paper explores the relationship between digital transformation peer effect, and corporate welfare, using the data of China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed grain-related enterprises from 2012 to 2023 as a sample. The study reveals substantial positive regional and “industry” peer effects stemming from the digital transformation of grain-related enterprises, both of which can improve corporate welfare, as demonstrated by a number of robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanism tests indicate that the digital transformation peer effects of grain-related enterprises enhance corporate welfare by alleviating financing constraints and improving technological innovation; corporate ESG performance amplifies the impact of this peer effect on corporate welfare. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the digital transformation peer effects of grain-related enterprises have a more significant effect on the welfare enhancement of industry-leading enterprises, enterprises in non-major grain-producing regions, and mature enterprises.