Impact of Digital Finance on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Performance of Chinese Listed Firms: The Mediating Role of Corporate Digital Transformation

This study focuses on Chinese listed companies, aiming to explore the relationship between digital finance, corporate digital transformation, and ESG performance, and further analyze the mediating role of digital transformation in this process. Based on data from Chinese Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies between 2012 and 2022, this study uses ESG performance data published by the Huazheng ESG Rating and the digital financial index from Peking University. To empirically test how digital finance would impact corporate ESG performance, this study uses the panel data model with two-way fixed effects. This study addresses endogeneity issues by employing lagged one-period ESG data for robustness checks and replacing the core explanatory and dependent variables to ensure the robustness of the conclusions. Additionally, a heterogeneity analysis is performed based on ownership type (state-owned vs. non-state-owned) and regional location (eastern, central, western). The findings indicate that: (1) the development of digital finance significantly contributes to improving corporate ESG performance, and the conclusion remains robust even after considering endogeneity and replacing variables; (2) mechanism analysis reveals that digital transformation is an important mediating variable through which digital finance affects corporate ESG performance; (3) heterogeneity analysis shows that digital finance has a more significant effect on the ESG performance of state-owned enterprises, possibly due to their advantages in resource acquisition and policy support. Additionally, digital finance has a stronger impact on enhancing ESG performance in the central and western regions of China compared to the eastern region.