Can Digital Transformation Improve Corporate Risk-taking Level?

With the invention and wide application of electronic computers,the Internet revolution has driven innovation and progress in all fields of society,impacting the global economy and personal life.Relying on the popularization of the Internet,China’s digital economy has experienced rapid development in the past ten years,from the popularization of Alipay and We Chat to the construction of digital financing platforms,the availability and convenience of domestic financial services have reached an unprecedented height.Financial inclusion makes financial services more widely available and has lower thresholds,making financial markets pay attention to the previously neglected financial groups.Under the many positive effects of the digital economy,traditional enterprises have also strengthened their connection with the financial market and used diversified ways to enhance their own value,and digital transformation is one of them.As a strategic choice for enterprises to seek competitive advantage in the era of digital economy,digital transformation plays an active role in broadening the channels for obtaining enterprise resources and improving the use of enterprise information,and has an important impact on enterprises’ behavioral decision-making.Within the enterprise,the dependence on resources and the existence of agency problems are important factors affecting the venture capital behavior of enterprises.With the development and popularization of digital technologies such as big data,artificial intelligence and cloud computing,digital transformation plays a positive role in alleviating the problem of enterprise resource constraints and reducing corporate agency costs.Taking the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2019 as a sample,this paper examines and studies the impact and internal mechanism of digital transformation on corporate risk-taking.Through empirical research,this paper finds that:(1)digital transformation significantly improves the level of corporate risk-taking,and the research conclusion is still robust after instrumental variable regression,replacement of dependent variable metrics,and lag of explanatory variables.(2)The heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of digital transformation on the level of corporate risk-taking will vary according to the characteristics of enterprises,and the improvement effect of digital transformation on corporate risk-taking is more obvious in small enterprises,enterprises in the growth and mature stage,and private enterprises.(3)The mechanism test finds that digital transformation improves the risk-taking level of enterprises by alleviating corporate financing constraints and reducing corporate agency costs.(4)Further research shows that the risk-taking effect of digital transformation increases the innovation investment of enterprises and ultimately promotes the improvement of enterprise value.Based on the research conclusions,this paper makes the following recommendations: First,enterprises need to pay attention to digital transformation strategies.Digital transformation can bring resource advantages and information advantages to enterprises,which are of great benefit to enhancing enterprise value,and enterprises need to pay attention to the economic value brought by digital transformation and carry out digital transformation with an open and positive attitude.Second,companies should plan their transformation strategies reasonably.When carrying out digital transformation,enterprises need to choose appropriate transformation methods based on reasonable judgment of their own resource capability level,so as to achieve the purpose of using digital transformation to cultivate core competitiveness and achieve their own high-quality development.Third,governments need precise policies.Digital transformation plays a different role in different attributes of enterprises to bear risks,and the government needs to formulate policies to promote enterprise digitalization according to the different development conditions of enterprises,so as to effectively play the positive effects of digital transformation.The main innovations of this paper are: First,it deepens the research content in the field of enterprise digital transformation.Digital transformation plays an active role in ensuring the steady development of the economy,and this paper studies the consequences of the implementation of digital transformation strategies from the perspective of enterprise behavior,enriching the research on the impact of digital transformation on microeconomic subjects.Second,expand relevant research in the field of corporate risk-taking.Different from previous studies,this paper explores the role of digital transformation on corporate risk-taking from the new perspective of digital transformation,and expands the relevant research on the influencing factors of corporate risk-taking.Third,provide decision-making reference for enterprises and policy advice for the government.The research conclusions of this paper are helpful to provide a theoretical analysis framework and practical decision-making reference for enterprises to cope with the challenges of digital transformation and solve substantive problems in development,and enlighten the government to take policy measures to promote digital technology to accurately match the basic needs of physical enterprises,and promote enterprises that adopt digital transformation decisions to create better performance in the capital market.