The Impact Of Digital Transformation On The Level Of Corporate Risk-taking

Driven by the development of digital technology,digital transformation has become a strategic imperative for enterprises to cope with the increasingly fierce competition,and the 20th Party Congress report pointed out that we should "promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy",and data as the "oil of the future society".As the "oil of the future society",data has become the new driving force of economic and social development.With the support of relevant policies,the maturity of digital transformation of enterprises in China has been increasing in recent years,and the effectiveness of transformation has gradually become apparent,especially under the impact of the epidemic,digital technology has been popularized and applied to a deeper extent.Corporate risk-taking behavior plays an important role in technological upgrading and productivity improvement,and it is of practical significance to study the impact of digital transformation on the level of corporate risk-taking in the context of the current increased uncertainty in the macro environment.This paper explores the relationship between corporate digital transformation and corporate risk-taking by analyzing the data of China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2019.The results of this paper show that,on the one hand,the innovation diffusion effect of digital transformation can force enterprises to integrate into innovation networks and enhance their willingness to innovate;on the other hand,its cost-saving effect and information transfer effect can increase the available capital of enterprises,alleviate the financing dilemma caused by information asymmetry,and reduce the financing constraints of enterprises.Through these two paths,digital transformation increases firms’ motivation and ability to engage in risk-taking activities,which in turn significantly improves their risk-taking level.There are obvious heterogeneity in this promotion effect across firms and regions.First,due to the advantages of large-scale enterprises in terms of technology,talent,and capital,their digital transformation is more effective and has a more significant contribution to the level of corporate risk-taking.Second,state-owned enterprises usually have certain social functions and their business goals are influenced by government actions.This paper finds that the digital transformation of private enterprises has a significant contribution to their risk-taking level after testing by grouping enterprises according to their equity nature,but not in state-owned enterprises.Third,the above promotion effect is more obvious in regions with a higher degree of digital economy development,which benefit from the perfect digital infrastructure,policy environment and industrial base.Fourth,the high risk-taking attribute of high-tech industry enterprises themselves makes the promotion effect of digital transformation on their risk-taking level not obvious.Based on the above research findings,this paper puts forward reasonable suggestions on how to effectively play the role of digital transformation in enhancing the risk-taking level of enterprises in terms of strengthening the construction of digital infrastructure and optimizing the allocation of digital resources;improving policy guidance and optimizing the policy support and transmission mechanism;and strengthening the construction of related systems.