The impact of digital-real integration on energy productivity under a multi-governance framework: The mediating role of AI and embodied technological progress

The integration of digital technology with the real economy has emerged as a pivotal trend in global economic development, accelerating technological progress and artificial intelligence (AI) applications to enhance factor allocation efficiency and optimize enterprise production and operations. This process introduces new opportunities for improving total factor energy productivity (TFEP). This paper establishes a multi-governance framework encompassing market financial incentives, governmental environmental regulations, and public participation, using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2022 and quantifies the integration of digital and real economies within enterprises through patent citation data. From the perspectives of AI development and embodied technological progress, this paper uncovers the mechanisms through which digital-real integration influences enterprises' TFEP. Findings indicate that the technology integration of digital and real economy industries within enterprises significantly enhances TFEP, exhibiting a dynamic trend of increasing impact over time. This effect is more pronounced in foreign-invested enterprises, privately-owned enterprises, and those positioned at the center of green technology networks; it is also more significant in labor-intensive, capital-intensive, and pollution-intensive industries, as well as in regions with higher levels of intellectual property protection and advanced development of new infrastructure. Mechanism tests reveal that the promotion of AI application, the facilitation of embodied technological progress in energy and labor, and the suppression of deepening trends in capital-embodied technological progress are key pathways through which the technology integration of digital and real economy industries enhances TFEP. Additionally, green finance and environmental regulation play significant positive moderating roles in this effect. The conclusions of this study provide empirical evidence and policy implications for countries worldwide, particularly developing nations, in advancing the technology integration of digital and real economy industries and promoting green and sustainable development within enterprises.