Abstract
Digital finance is a product of emerging technology-enabled innovation in financial services and has a critical impact on the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. We propose a new efficiency measurement model based on the slacks-based measure (SBM) to measure the efficiency of green transformation on regional manufacturing. Chinese interprovincial data from 2010 to 2019 were obtained for the study. In addition, we estimated the effect of digital finance on green transformation of manufacturing using a benchmark panel model. Finally, considering the regional heterogeneity and spatial effects of green transformation efficiency in the manufacturing industry, we constructed a spatial Durbin model based on an economic-geographic nested spatial weight matrix to analyze the spatial influence of digital finance on green transformation in the manufacturing industry. The results show that the green transformation of the manufacturing industry has significant positive spatial spillover effects owing to the existence of competition, demonstration, and economic correlation effects among regions.








Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Notes
The CPC Central Committee’s Proposal for Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Long-term Goals for China’s Economic and Social Development in the next five Years. http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-03/13/content_5592681.htm
References
Abu Rumman GA (2014) Understanding water relations for sustainable production. In: AlMulla YA, Ahmed M, Jayasuriya H (eds) International conference on agricultural engineering: new technologies for sustainable agricultural production and food security. Int Soc Horticultural Science, Leuven 1, pp 169–174
Ayyagari M, Demirgüç-Kunt A, Maksimovic V (2011) Firm innovation in emerging markets: the role of finance, governance, and competition. J Financ Quant Anal 46(6):1545–1580. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109011000378
Berger AN (2003) The economic effects of technological progress: evidence from the banking industry. J Money Credit Bank 35(2):141–176
Bernauer T, Engel S, Kammerer D, Sejas Nogareda J (2006) Explaining green innovation: ten years after porter’s win-win proposition: how to study the effects of regulation on corporate environmental innovation? (SSRN Scholarly Paper 918733). https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=918733
Bovenberg AL (1999) Green tax reforms and the double dividend: an updated reader’s guide. Int Tax Public Financ 6(3):421–443. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008715920337
Cao J, Ho MS, Jorgenson DW (2009) The local and global benefits of green tax policies in China. Rev Environ Econ Policy 3(2):189–208. https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/rep005
Chandra R, Balachandran B (1992) More powerful portfolio approaches to regressing abnormal returns on firm-specific variables for cross-sectional studies. J Financ 47:2055–2070. https://doi.org/10.2307/2329010
Chang T-S, Tone K, Wu C-H (2021) Nested dynamic network data envelopment analysis models with infinitely many decision making units for portfolio evaluation. Eur J Oper Res 291:766–781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.044
Chow G (1993) Capital formation and economic-growth in China. Q J Econ 108:809–842. https://doi.org/10.2307/2118409
Chen M, Guariglia A (2013) Internal financial constraints and firm productivity in China: do liquidity and export behavior make a difference? J Comp Econ 41(4):1123–1140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2013.05.003
Chen S, Zhang H (2021) Does digital finance promote manufacturing servitization: micro evidence from China. Int Rev Econ Financ 76:856–869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2021.07.018
Cheng B, Qiu B, Chan KC, Zhang H (2022) Does a green tax impact a heavy-polluting firm’s green investments? Appl Econ 54(2):189–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1963663
Cortina JJ, Ismail S, Schmukler SL (2018) Firm financing and growth in the Arab region. Econ Syst 42:361–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.09.002
Dolbnya EA, Kozlova ON, Vasilyeva MK, Lyukina AY (2021) Digital innovation as a regional economy development factor. IOP Conf Ser Earth Environ Sci 666(6):062133. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/666/6/062133
Du K, Cheng Y, Yao X (2021) Environmental regulation, green technology innovation, and industrial structure upgrading: the road to the green transformation of Chinese cities. Energy Econ 98:105247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105247
Eisenhardt KM, Martin JA (2000) Dynamic capabilities: what are they? Strateg Manag J 21(10–11):1105–1121. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0266(200010/11)21:10/11%3c1105::AID-SMJ133%3e3.0.CO;2-E
Fang C, Huang J, Liu Y (2002) Thoughts on constructing the demonstrating areas of the ecological rebuilding and economic sustainable development in Hexi region. Chin Geogr Sci 12:14–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-002-0065-1
Frey M, Iraldo F, Testa F (2013) The determinants of innovation in green supply chains: evidence from an italian sectoral study: innovation determinants in green supply chains. R&D Manag 43(4):352–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12020
Gabor D, Brooks S (2017) The digital revolution in financial inclusion: international development in the fintech era. New Polit Econ 22:423–436. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2017.1259298
Giebel M, Kraft K (2019) External financing constraints and firm innovation. J Ind Econ 67(1):91–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/joie.12197
Guo F, Kong ST, Wang J (2016) General patterns and regional disparity of internet finance development in China: evidence from the Peking University Internet Finance Development Index. China Econ J 9(3):253–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/17538963.2016.1211383
Hafeez B, Kabir MH, Wongchoti U (2022) Are retail investors really passive? Shareholder activism in the digital age. J Bus Financ Acc 49(3–4):423–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12583
Hasan MM, Lu Y, Khan S (2020) Promoting China’s inclusive finance through digital financial services. Glob Bus Rev 23:984–1006. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150919895348
Hendler J, Golbeck J (2008) Metcalfe’s law, Web 2.0, and the Semantic Web. J Web Semant 6(1):14–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.websem.2007.11.008
Jin J, Zou H (2002) How does fiscal decentralization affect aggregate, national, and subnational government size? J Urban Econ 52(2):270–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0094-1190(02)00004-9
Jin H, Yang J, Chen Y (2022) Energy saving and emission reduction fiscal policy and corporate green technology innovation. Front Psychol 13:1056038. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1056038
Karydas C, Zhang L (2019) Green tax reform, endogenous innovation and the growth dividend. J Environ Econ Manag 97:158–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2017.09.005
Karydas C, Zhang L (2017) Green tax reform, endogenous innovation and the growth dividend. J Environ Econ Manag 97:158–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2017.09.005
Khan F, Siddiqui MA, Imtiaz S (2022) Role of financial literacy in achieving financial inclusion: a review, synthesis and research agenda. Cogent Bus Manag 9:2034236. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2034236
Le D, Ren F, Tang Y, Zhu Y (2022) The effect of environmental policy uncertainty on enterprises’ pollution emissions: evidence from chinese industrial enterprise. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19:9849. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169849
Lewis OA (2015) The political economy of noncompliance in China: the case of industrial energy policy. J Contemp China 24:798–822. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2015.1013374
Lewis JI, Lu H, Romankiewicz JP (2015) Understanding China’s non-fossil energy targets. Science 350:1034–1036. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad1084
Li, J. (2007). Development and Tax Policy: Case Study of China (SSRN Scholarly Paper 1017301). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1017301
Li J, Hu J (2021) Migrants and default: evidence from China. Int Rev Financ 22:472–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/irfi.12371
Li H, Su Y (2021) The nonlinear causal relationship between short- and long-term interest rates: an empirical assessment of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Int Financ 24:332–355. https://doi.org/10.1111/infi.12400
Li J, Zhang W, Yu J, Chen H (2015) Industrial spatial agglomeration using distance-based approach in Beijing, China. Chin Geogr Sci 25:698–712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-015-0770-1
Liao Z (2016) Temporal cognition, environmental innovation, and the competitive advantage of enterprises. J Clean Prod 135:1045–1053. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.021
Love I (2003) Financial development and financing constraints: international evidence from the structural investment model. Rev Financ Stud 16(3):765–791. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhg013
Luo D, Luo M, Lv J (2022) Can digital finance contribute to the promotion of financial sustainability? A financial efficiency perspective. Sustainability 14(7):7. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14073979
Luo S, Sun Y, Yang F, Zhou G (2021) Does fintech innovation promote enterprise transformation? evidence from China. Technol Soc 68:101821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101821
Naeem K, Li MC (2019) Corporate investment efficiency: the role of financial development in firms with financing constraints and agency issues in OECD non-financial firms. Int Rev Financ Anal 62:53–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2019.01.003
Nanthakumar L, Shahbaz M, Taha, R (2014, June 16) The effect of green taxation and economic growth on environment hazards: the case of Malaysia [MPRA Paper]. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/56843/
Pang JS (2000) Strategic gaming analysis for electric power systems: An MPEC approach. IEEE Trans Power Syst 15:638–645. https://doi.org/10.1109/59.867153
Pee LG (2016) Customer co-creation in B2C e-commerce: does it lead to better new products? Electron Commer Res 16(2):217–243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-016-9221-z
Porter ME, Linde CVD (1995) Toward a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. J Econ Perspect 9(4):97–118. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.9.4.97
Rao GVP, Nallusamy S, Chakraborty PS, Muralikrishna S (2020) Study on productivity improvement in medium scale manufacturing industry by execution of lean tools. Int J Eng Res Afr 48:193–207. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/JERA.48.193
Rehman HM, Yong HNA, Choong YO (2021) Impact of management practices on organisational innovation in the digital age: a study of the manufacturing industry in Malaysia. Int J Manag Stud 28(2):2. https://doi.org/10.32890/ijms2021.28.2.4
Russu P, Ticci E (2015) Foreign direct investments, environmental externalities and capital segmentation in a rural economy. Ecol Econ 116:341–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.029
Shibata S (2022) Digitalization or flexibilization? The changing role of technology in the political economy of Japan. Rev Int Polit Econ 29(5):1549–1576. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2021.1935294
Solarin SA, Bello MO, Tiwari AK (2015) The impact of technological innovation on renewable energy production: accounting for the roles of economic and environmental factors using a method of moments quantile regression. Heliyon 8:e09913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09913
Solarin SA, Bello MO, Tiwari AK (2022) The impact of technological innovation on renewable energy production: accounting for the roles of economic and environmental factors using a method of moments quantile regression. Heliyon 8(7):e09913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09913
Streimikiene D, Siksnelyte I, Zavadskas EK, Cavallaro F (2018) The impact of greening tax systems on sustainable energy development in the Baltic States. Energies 11(5):5. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11051193
Tarnawska K (2013) Eco-innovations – tools for the transition to green economy. Econ Manag 18:735–743. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.18.4.4485
Wang X, Khurshid A, Qayyum S, Calin AC (2022) The role of green innovations, environmental policies and carbon taxes in achieving the sustainable development goals of carbon neutrality. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(6):8393–8407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16208-z
Xu X, Han L (2021) Digital Economy, Industrial Structure Upgrade and Economic High-Quality Development: An Empirical Research Based on the Mediation Effect Model (2021060359). Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0359.v1
Xue K, Nie Y, Wang Y, Hu Z (2022) Number of births and later-life depression in older adults: evidence from China. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19:11780. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811780
Yao X, Tang X (2021) Does financial structure affect CO2 emissions? Evidence from G20 countries. Financ Res Lett 41:101791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101791
Young A (2003) Gold into base metals: productivity growth in the People’s Republic of China during the reform period. J Polit Econ 111:1220–1261. https://doi.org/10.1086/378532
Yu L, Zhu J, Wang Z (2021) Green taxation promotes the intelligent transformation of chinese manufacturing enterprises: tax leverage theory. Sustainability 13(23):23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313321
Zhang A (2021) Empowering rural human settlement:digital economy’s path to progress. J Clean Prod 427:139243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.139243
Zhanbayev RA, Irfan M, Shutaleva AV et al (2023) Demoethical model of sustainable development of society: a roadmap towards digital transformation. Sustainability 15:12478. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612478
Zhao H (2022) Green credit and market expansion strategy of high pollution enterprises-evidence from China. PLoS One 17:e0279421. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279421
Zhao X, Ding X, Li L (2021) Research on environmental regulation, technological innovation and green transformation of manufacturing industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Sustainability 13(18):18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810005
Zheng C, Deng F, Li C (2022) Energy-saving effect of regional development strategy in Western China. Sustainability 14(9):9. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095616
Zou H, Adams MB (2008) Debt capacity, cost of debt, and corporate insurance. J Financ Quant Anal 43:433–466. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109000003586
Zou Y, Beattie M, He L (2018) Factors affecting inn operators’ willingness to pay resource protection fees: a case of Erhai Lake in China. Sustainability 10:4049. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114049
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71873040), the Project of the Service Trade Sustainable Development Research Base of Guangdong (No. 2019WZJD004), the Project of Innovation and Industrial Development Research Group (No. 2018WCXTD005), and the Innovation Research Team Project in Guangdong University (Humanities and Social Science) “Innovation Research Team for Green Finance and Sustainable Development” (No. 2023WCXTD014).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Wenxiu Li, Jiajie Cai, Yanwan Zhu, Jianxin Li, and Zhenwu Li. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jiajie Cai, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Nicholas Apergis
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Li, W., Cai, J., Zhu, Y. et al. Can digital finance development drive green transformation in manufacturing? Evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 23876–23895 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32402-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32402-1