Does Digital Transformation Enhance the Sustainability of Enterprises: Evidence from China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors investigate the impact of digital transformation on corporate sustainable development and its mechanism of action with a sample of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen (2004-2021). According to results, authors claim that corporate digital transformation can significantly improve their sustainable development and is heterogeneous. Specifically, enterprise digital transformation promotes the sustainable development level of underinvested enterprises (i), non-state-owned enterprises (ii), non-manufacturing enterprises (iii). Accordingly, authors suggest that the higher the degree of marketization of an enterprise, the greater the impact of enterprise digital transformation on its sustainable development. The article is interesting and well written, with relevant results. I only have some comments to improve its readability and its impact: 

• Considering the structure of the introduction, I recommend the authors introduce the case study, highlighting the sample (i), the methodology (ii), and the collected results (iii). Moreover, authors should emphasize the reason a study on China is interesting for the international readers, i.e., which is the lesson we might learn from this study (e.g., in the western countries and/or in the developing ones). Finally, in economic journals, we conclude the first section presenting the structure of the manuscript.
• Considering the literature review section, authors should discuss the policy introduced to support the digitalization of firms in other developed and developing countries (see Calabrese et al., 2024; Teixeira and Tavares-Lehmann, 2022). This could give your article higher visibility to international readers. Another aspect that authors should discuss is the concept of financial constraints as a barrier that might prevent the development of environmental strategies (see Falavigna and Ippoliti, 2022; He et al., 2022).
• Considering the empirical model, I recommend denoting the initial sample, before the data cleaning. This information could give an idea of missing observations and/or outliers.
• Considering the conclusion, I recommend to the authors the adoption of an additional sub-section with key messages to private stakeholders, highlighting the practical managerial implications. This approach could give a higher visibility to the article.

 

In conclusion, this is an interesting article, well written and with relevant results. There are few improvements that can be made, so that you can increase its readability and its impact. 

 

Citations:

Calabrese et al. (2024). Innovation policy and corporate finance: the Italian automotive supply chain and its transition to Industry 4.0. Journal of Policy Modeling, 46(2), 336-353.

Falavigna, G., & Ippoliti, R. (2022). Financial constraints, investments, and environmental strategies: An empirical analysis of judicial barriers. Business Strategy and the Environment, 31(5), 2002-2018.

Teixeira, J. E., & Tavares-Lehmann, A. T. C. (2022). Industry 4.0 in the European union: Policies and national strategies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 180, 121664.

He et al. (2022). Green finance and corporate environmental responsibility: evidence from heavily polluting listed enterprises in China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(49), 74081-74096.

 

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper examines the enhancing effects of digital transformation on corporate sustainability, which provides good value to corporate decision making. However, several problems need to be addressed:

1.In the Literature Review, which mainly discusses enterprise digital transformation and corporate sustainability, the relationship between digital transformation and corporate sustainability is not summarized adequately. In fact, there are many relevant literature on this topic. Besides, the author fails to point out the marginal contribution of this paper based on previous literature, and the innovations need to be further emphasized.

2.In theoretical analysis section, it is recommended that the author put forward some research hypotheses.

3.The instrumental variable adopts one-period lagged digital transformation. This approach can't satisfy the exogenous requirement. It is recommended that the author choose another instrumental variable.

4.The format of the references is not correct. Moreover, the proportion of Chinese scholars is too high (over 50%), and the proportion of literature from Chinese journals is also high.

5.Many small errors need to be checked, such as citation and labeling of reference.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

the Chinese-style English writing style is quite evident

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This research covers and relevant topic and could deliver important results to companies. The research design is interesting and the data used can provide solid results. Nevertheless, the organisation and writing of the paper suffers of some deficiencies that must be addressed. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Please improve the English. It is very important to facilitate the reading of your work. Some statements appear to be translated using a very simple tool. Please refere to the examples in the document provided. 

Author Response

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Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is an old topic. Many people did this research. The results and finding not surprising. No solid theoretical background. Very old data. Now is year 2025, it is very very strange to use the data up to 2021. Why from China, is the result from China different from other parts of the world. Please demonstrate and argue. The equation one comes from the very sudden way. Please provide proof from first principle. What are the theoretical contributions?

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Find a native speaker to do the proofreading

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have made the necessary revisions based on the reviewers' comments, and the revised manuscript now meets the publication standards and is approved for acceptance.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for following the recommendations that improved the work. Nevertheless, there are some improvement that are important to be made:

• It is very important that, in section 3.2 you detail the reasons why you are using that model. It was based on literature review? Our previous research? As it is it appears that is something that came to our mind on day
• The phrase “(The study in this paper expresses investment efficiency in terms of) - Continues to make me no sense
• From a statistical point, and  of Looking to table 2 to R2 values, they are very low what means that the model explains very little the dependent variable. It would be important to supply some justification

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English was improved, but some errors were found in the reviewed text. Small revisions are needed

Author Response

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Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for your response. Sorry, I can't see author addressing my concerns. First is the period of the study. Second is the place of the study. Third is theoretical contributions. I read many many times. Authors say some new findings only.  Last but not the least, the first equation issue.

Author Response

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Round 3

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Author explained why he or she used China as a place of study. Please show us from first principle how to reach the first equation. Need to find the new data. What are the theoretical contributions?

Author Response

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