海外高管与企业数字化转型——来自中国A股上市企业的经验证据

Overseas Executives and Corporate Digital Transformation——Empirical Evidence from Chinese A-share Listed Companies

数字技术与实体经济的结合是当前企业提质增效、重塑核心竞争力乃至高质量发展的重要动能。本文以2008—2021年上市企业为样本,立足高管团队经历的视角,实证考察了海外高管对企业数字化转型的影响效应及作用机理,研究发现:海外高管能够显著促进企业数字化转型,且这一效应主要来自兼具海外工作和学习经历的高管。机制检验发现,海外高管通过提高风险承担水平、缓解信息不对称以及增强创新能力等三条路径促进企业数字化转型。拓展性研究发现,海外高管对企业数字化转型的促进作用在非国有、行业竞争较激烈以及国际化程度较高的企业中更加明显。以上结论不仅为理解企业数字化转型的影响因素提供了新的经验证据,也给企业引进和选拔管理人才、推进数字经济与实体经济深度融合提供了重要的政策启示。

The combination of digital technology and the real economy is currently an important kinetic energy for enterprises to improve quality and efficiency,reshape core competitiveness and even high-quality development.This paper empirically examines the influence effect and mechanism of overseas executives on the digital transformation of enterprises,based on the perspective of the experience of the executive team,using the data of listed enterprises from 2008 to 2021 as the sample.The study finds that expatriate executives can significantly contribute to the digital transformation of an organization,and that this effect comes primarily from expatriate executives with a combination of work and study experience.Mechanism tests find that overseas executives promote corporate digital transformation through three paths:increasing the level of risk-taking,mitigating information asymmetry,and enhancing innovation.Extensive research finds that the facilitating effect of overseas executives on firms'digital transformation is more pronounced in firms that are non-state-owned,have a more competitive industry,and are more internationalized.The above findings not only provide new empirical evidence for understanding the influencing factors of enterprise digital transformation,but also provide important policy insights for enterprises to introduce and select managerial talents,and to promote the deep integration of the digital economy with the real economy.