The Impact of Digital Transformation on Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from Listed Companies in China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Thanks for inviting me to review this paper. I have several concerns as bellows:
1. This paper tries to explore the Impact of digital transformation on corporate sustainability. I understand the authors use Chinese samples. However, do the findings have generality in most countries or industries? If so, the authors should provide more background information in other countries rather than only China (e.g., in the first paragraph).
2. The study involves so many theories: the resource-based view (RBV), institution-based view (IBV), enterprise efficiency theory and dynamic capability theory. In fact, the authors do not need to find a new theory for each hypothesis. Sometimes, the study mixed these theories and complex their arguments.
3. In robustness test, it’s not clear how the authors differentiate IV (instrumental variable) Regression and 2SLS regressions? Aren’t they the same? In addition, the authors should report the results of first stage regressions.
4. The variable name of efficiency is not proper since it indicates the operating costs on operating revenues ratio as a percentage. Change it.
5. Recent work has some criticisms about the mediating effect tests (see below). How to respond to these criticisms in this work?
Jiang Ting. Mediating Effect and Moderating Effect in Empirical Research on Causal Inference[J]. China Industrial Economics, 2022, 5: 100-120.
6. The contributions in section 6 are really weak. Please rewrite it.
Author Response
Dear reviewer, please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Three remarks. The first concerns 40-42. The fact is that there is little research on sustainability at the company level. There are especially few recommendations on how to improve this balance. However, I would like to point out that there is a concept of sustainable management of company capital: A Model for the Sustainable Management of Enterprise Capital, Sustainability 2021, 13(1),183. The second remark applies to the entire article. It is important at beginning to define what we mean by sustainable development and what we mean by sustainable management. Third note. The impact of digital transformation does not necessarily have a positive impact on the balance of the company's capital. It is a component of structural (organizational) capital. A company is most efficient when all capitals are in balance: Principles of Sustainable Management of Energy Companies: The case of Poland, Energies 2021, 14(8),2042. Nevertheless, an article contributing to science, worth publishing.
Author Response
Dear reviewer, please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This is an interesting article, which focuses on digital transformation and how it improves corporate sustainability, analyzing it through the prism of experiences of listed companies in China. The Authors provide a solid theoretical foundation and developed good methodology for this research, integrating the resource-based view (RBV), institution-based view (IBV), enterprise efficiency theory and dynamic capability theory in order to explore the relationship between digital transformation and corporate sustainability. The Paper is well structures and includes proper literature sources. In conclusion, the Paper focuses on an important research problem and it is potentially interesting for the Sustainability readers.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for your comments on our manuscript entitled “The Impact of Digital Transformation on Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from Listed Companies in China” (2148998). We have revised our manuscript to incorporate comments and concerns from you, the other two reviewers. We believe the quality of the manuscript has been improved as a result of your suggestions.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see the attachment.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
