COVID-19,Digitalization And Corporate Performance ——An Empirical Study Based On Listed Companies

Since the outbreak of COVID-19,digital-related economic phenomena have emerged.Academia has begun to re-examine other characteristics of digitalization,especially the role of digitalization in the steady operation of enterprises in epidemic situations.However,the existing research mostly uses qualitative research methods such as case analysis and lacks more universal empirical literature.The year2021 marks the beginning of the implementation of China's 14 th Five-Year Plan and the beginning of a new journey towards a modern country.In the face of severe international epidemic situation and complex global economic changes,the economic development in the post-epidemic period is facing great challenges.In this context,it is of theoretical and practical significance to study the impact of COVID-19 and the role of digitalization in the context of epidemic and its mechanism.Based on the sample of A-share listed companies from 2018 to 2021,this paper constructs epidemic indicators according to the classification of epidemic risk levels,and empirically explores the impact of COVID-19 on corporate performance.Furthermore,data mining and text analysis techniques were used to construct the degree of digitalization at the micro-enterprise level,and the role of digitalization in alleviating the impact of the epidemic was analyzed.The robustness of the above conclusions was tested by instrumental variable method and propensity score matching method.On this basis,based on the theory of organizational flexibility and transaction cost theory,the mechanism of digitalization mitigation of the negative impact of the COVID-19 is analyzed and empirically tested.Finally,heterogeneity analysis is conducted from the perspective of industry and supply chain concentration.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows.Firstly,COVID-19 has a negative impact on corporate performance,and enterprises in high-risk areas are facing a more serious risk of performance decline.Secondly,digitalization alleviates the impact of COVID-19 by improving organizational flexibility and reducing transaction costs.Thirdly,the above impacts are heterogeneous in samples with different industry and supply chain concentration.Finally,combined with the above research conclusions,and based on the economic background,this paper puts forward policy suggestions on fiscal and taxation policy support and accelerating digital transformation from the national and enterprise levels.