Research on the Interactive Relationship Between Digital Transformation, Capital Structure and Corporate Performance — An Empirical Analysis Based on A-Share Listed Companies

Wanting Lu

doi:10.63313/EBM.2024

Authors

Wanting Lu School of Economics and Management, Southwest Petroleum University, Chendu 610000, China Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63313/EBM.2024

Keywords:

Digital Transformation, Capital Structure, Corporate Performance

Abstract

Against the background of the deep penetration of the digital economy into the real economy, digital transformation has become a core path for enterprises to optimize resource allocation and enhance competitiveness. However, a unified understanding has not yet been formed regarding the interactive mechanism between capital structure — the core of financing decisions—and digital transformation as well as corporate performance. This paper takes Chinese A-share non-financial listed companies from 2015 to 2024 as the research sample, using data from the CSMAR database and annual report text analysis, and employs a panel data model to empirically test the interactive relationship among the three. The results show that: there is a short-term weak negative non-linear correlation between digital transformation and corporate performance, reflecting the inhibitory effect of costs in the initial stage of transformation; capital structure plays an intermediary role, but the current high debt and transformation costs form a superimposed constraint, jointly inhibiting performance; among control variables, return on equity (ROE) and revenue growth rate positively drive performance, while firm age shows an efficiency attenuation characteristic, and the model results are reliable with heterogeneous impacts of transformation; the framework of "digital transformation-capital structure-corporate performance" is initially established, but the performance feedback effect needs to be deepened, and the cyclic mechanism of the three requires verification with long-term data.

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