智慧城市试点促进了企业数字化转型吗?——基于准自然实验的实证研究

Do Pilot Smart Cities Promote Corporate Digital Transformation? An Empirical Study Based on a Quasi-natural Experiment

“智慧城市”政策作为带动产业转型升级的重要途径,其政策效应的微观反映可能会影响企业网络化、信息化乃至数字化转型进程。基于上述事实,本文利用“国家智慧城市试点”设计准自然实验,并采用Python工具对2007—2019年上市企业年报进行文本挖掘,构建了企业数字化转型指标。在此基础上,借助双重差分模型(DID),从理论逻辑和经验证据两个方面考察智慧城市试点对于企业数字化转型的政策效应。结果发现,智慧城市试点显著促进了企业数字化转型。换言之,与非试点智慧城市相比,在开展智慧城市政策试点的区域中,其辖区内企业数字化转型水平因这项政策红利而得到明显提升。该结论在经过平行趋势检验、PSMDID、安慰剂检验、替换估计模型、替换变量等多重稳健性检验后依旧成立。机制检验发现,智慧城市建设主要借助“资金”“人才”两条路径为企业数字化转型储能,一是利用技术资本积累效应为企业数字化转型解决资金约束问题,二是通过人力资本聚集效应为企业数字化转型改善人才约束困境。进一步研究显示,智慧城市建设对企业数字化转型的政策驱动效应受到来自企业层面、行业层面以及市场层面等异质性因素干扰,特别是对于非国有企业、传统行业和发达金融市场,智慧城市建设发挥的数字化转型政策激励效应尤为明显。本文结论为深入厘清当下中国企业数字化转型热潮嵌入了制度变迁领域的理论解读,同时也为政府后续制定“靶向性”数字化激励举措提供现实依据。

As the digital economy plays an increasingly important role in economic development,the academic interpretation of the“boom”of digital economy development still lags behind the practice.How to clarify the driving factors of China’s digital economy can not only provide assistance for the high-quality operation of the digital economy,but also contribute to developing the theory that conform to the characteristics of China’s digital economy development.Considering that the digital economy is an important socio-technical and institutional phenomenon,coupled with the fact that the foothold of the digital economy lies in corporate digital technological transformation,it is particularly critical to examine the causes of digital transformation from the institutional perspective.However,few existing studies examine the causes of digital transformation from the institutional level,which provides an important starting point for this paper.Using the“smart city policy”as a quasi-natural experiment,this paper examines the impact of pilot smart cities on the digital transformation of China’s listed companies from 2007 to 2019.The conclusions are as follows:First,pilot smart cities significantly promote corporate digital transformation.In other words,the level of corporate digital transformation in pilot smart cities is significantly higher than that in non-pilot smart cities due to the policy bonus.Second,economic mechanism tests suggest that smart city construction mainly relies on“technological capital accumulation”and“human capital aggregation”,which provide a significant impetus for corporate digital transformation.Third,heterogeneity analysis shows that the enhancement effect of smart city policy on corporate digital transformation is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises,traditional industries,and developed financial markets.The contributions of this paper are as follows:(1)Existing literature mainly focuses on the economic consequences of corporate digital transformation,while ignoring the driving factors.Based on the institutional change theory,this paper discusses the relationship between pilot smart cities and corporate digital transformation,which is conducive to the development of institutional change theory.(2)Existing literature mainly explains corporate digital transformation from the perspectives of fiscal,industry,and entrepreneurial social network,while the essential role of“elements”in driving corporate digital transformation remains scant.This paper examines the economic mechanism of pilot smart cities on corporate digital transformation through the two paths of“fund”and“talent”,providing a logical theoretical explanation for the causes of digital transformation.(3)This paper discusses the differences in the policy effect of China’s smart city construction on corporate digital transformation,aiming to explore which types of enterprises benefit from smart city construction.This paper provides a theoretical explanation for the current digital transformation boom of Chinese enterprises from the perspective of institutional change theory,and offers a practical basis for the government to formulate“targeted”digital incentives.