Jiwei Song

Using panel data of Chinese A-share listed firms spanning 2013 to 2024, this paper investigates the statistical association between the disclosure–implementation mismatch in digital transformation and corporate ESG ratings. The disclosure–implementation mismatch is constructed as an empirical proxy capturing the divergence between firms’ digital-transformation disclosures in annual reports and their substantive digital inputs. We stress that this proxy can reflect multiple neutral sources of divergence, such as investment time lags and outsourcing arrangements, and should not be equated solely with managerial opportunism. Baseline regression results document a statistically significant negative association between this mismatch and corporate ESG ratings. Exploratory heterogeneity analyses show that such correlational pattern is more prominent among firms without Big-Four audits, firms located in high-marketisation regions, and firms with lower managerial ownership.

Investigating the relationship between digital innovation and carbon productivity, along with its underlying mechanisms, is important for advancing regional low-carbon, sustainable development. In this study, panel data spanning 2012 to 2022 from 30 provincial-level regions in China are analyzed utilizing mediation analysis and spatial Durbin models to systematically examine the transmission pathways, heterogeneous characteristics, and impact of digital innovation on carbon productivity. The findings reveal the following: (1) Digital innovation significantly enhances carbon productivity, exhibiting robust spatial spillover effects. (2) Spatial mediation analysis reveals that digital innovation enhances carbon productivity through three pathways—industrial structure upgrading, energy consumption efficiency, and technological progress—each exhibiting both local transmission and cross-regional spillover characteristics. (3) Regional heterogeneity analysis indicates that digital innovation exerts more substantial cross-regional spillover effects on carbon productivity in central and western regions than in eastern regions. Temporal heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effect of digital innovation on enhancing carbon productivity increased significantly after 2018. This study reveals the intrinsic logic and constraints governing digital innovation’s impact on carbon productivity, providing policymakers with a reference for formulating strategies to coordinate the development of digital and green economies.