Does Digital Transformation Enhance Corporate Risk-Taking?: Evidence from China

Abstract

Abstract Corporate risk-taking, as an essential factor in corporation development, is influenced by the enterprise’s strategic decision-making. Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, digital technology has a profound effect on the whole society and enterprises. Then, one question is proposed: how should enterprises make strategic decisions to deal with the current opportunities and challenges, enhance their own corporate risk-taking, and then achieve high-quality development? We collected the data from companies listed on China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2020. Starting from the corporate risk-taking perspective, we conducted an empirical analysis to validate the relationship between digital transformation of corporations and corporate risk-taking. We found that digital transformation of corporations enhanced corporate risk-taking. The enhanced effect was realized as digital transformation improved the information disclosure quality and asset utilization. The enhanced effect was even greater if the enterprise occupied a less favorable competitive position or received less media attention. This paper reviews the literature concerning economic consequences of enterprise digital transformation, shed new light on the enterprise’s selection of digital strategies to achieve sustainable development, and guides the digital transformation of an enterprise.