董责险与企业数字化转型:监督激励效应还是机会主义效应?

Directors’Liability Insurance and Corporate Digital Transformation:Supervisory Incentive Effect or Opportunistic Effect?

作为资本市场中的风险防范工具,董责险既可能监督激励管理者以促进企业数字化转型,也可能诱发管理者机会主义行为以抑制企业数字化转型。采用2012—2022年沪深A股制造业上市公司数据分析发现:购买董责险能够显著促进企业数字化转型,表明监督激励效应在其中发挥了主导作用;购买董责险促进了企业风险承担水平提升和融资约束程度下降,表明董责险的监督激励效应通过风险承担机制和融资约束机制促进了企业数字化转型;购买董责险对企业的管理费用率和总资产周转率没有显著影响,表明董责险的机会主义效应未能发挥作用,不能通过管理者自利机制来抑制企业数字化转型;董责险的数字化转型促进效应在非国有企业、公司治理较差企业和金融发展较差地区企业中更为显著,表明董责险能够弥补产权制度、公司治理和金融环境的不足,有效促进存在某些劣势的企业数字化转型。因此,应积极推动董责险市场健康发展,充分利用董责险的监督激励效应及其与产权制度的协同作用、对公司治理和金融环境的补充作用,有效促进企业数字化转型。

The process of digital transformation in Chinese enterprises is rapidly accelerating,yet the results remain unsatisfactory.Therefore,there is an urgent need to create a favorable institutional environment to better promote corporate digital transformation.Existing research has focused on exploring the driving effects of economic environments such as the governance system of technological innovation,digital economy policies,government fiscal technology expenditures,tax incentive policies,digital cultivation policies for core industries,and regional market development on corporate digital transformation.However,there is a lack of attention to insurance systems such as directors’liability insurance(DLI).Serving as a risk mitigation instrument in capital markets,directors’liability insurance may oversee and encourage managers to foster corporate digital transformation or,conversely,facilitate managers’self-interest,potentially hindering corporate digital transformation.Therefore,the precise impact of directors’liability insurance on corporate digital transformation warrants empirical investigation.This study explores the impact of directors’liability insurance on firms’digital transformation through empirical data from listed Chinese manufacturing companies spanning 2012 to 2022.It is discovered that directors’liability insurance can advance corporate digital transformation,indicating that the supervisory incentive hypothesis predominantly influences this outcome.The analysis of the impact mechanism suggests that directors’liability insurance encourages corporate risk-taking and eases financing constraints,thereby making firms more motivated and capable of undergoing digital transformation.Further analysis shows that under conditions of non-state ownership,poor corporate governance,and weak financial development,the positive impact of directors’liability insurance on corporate digital transformation is more pronounced.This suggests that directors’liability insurance can compensate for deficiencies in the property rights system,governance environment,and financial landscape,thereby more effectively fostering corporate digital transformation.Compared with prior research,this study makes three main contributions:firstly,it broadens the investigation into the driving factors of corporate digital transformation from an insurance system perspective,clarifying the significant role of the directors’liability insurance system in this process;secondly,it uncovers the promotion effect of directors’liability insurance on corporate digital transformation by constructing a competitive analytical framework,enriching the discourse on the economic consequences of this insurance system and clarifying its applicability and effectiveness in China’s capital market;thirdly,the study elucidates the risk-taking mechanism and financing constraint mechanism by which directors’liability insurance influences digital transformation,as well as its relationship with the property rights system,governance environment,and financial landscape,providing a direction for reform and optimization of the insurance system.The findings of this study offer vital decision-making insights for government bodies aiming to promote the digital economy,insurance departments to optimize the directors’liability insurance system,and enterprises to promote digital transformation.On one hand,government departments need to promote the development of the DLI market and effectively leverage the risk-taking and financing constraint mechanisms of DLI to drive corporate digital transformation and contribute to building a digital China.On the other hand,government departments should harness the synergistic effects of DLI with property rights systems,governance environments,and financial environments to effectively incentivize corporate digital transformation and promote sustainable development.