IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v163y2023ics0148296323002825.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digitalization generates equality? Enterprises’ digital transformation, financing constraints, and labor share in China

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Chengming
  • Huo, Peng
  • Wang, Zeyu
  • Zhang, Weiguang
  • Liang, Feiyan
  • Mardani, Abbas

Abstract

A decline in labor share increases income inequality and hinders economic growth. Enterprises are accelerating digital transformation (DT), however, how this affects labor share remains to be determined. We employ the text mining method to obtain panel data on China’s listed companies from 2010 to 2020, and the fixed effects model to investigate the impact of DT on labor share. The empirical results show that DT increases the labor share by easing financial limitations. This conclusion remains valid in a series of robustness tests, such as replacing the calculation methods of core explanatory and predicted variables, and adjusting the time horizon. In addition, the digitalization of state-owned enterprises, labor-intensive enterprises, enterprises with high bargaining power, and enterprises in highly developed digital financial areas, plays a more prominent role in promoting labor share. This study provides new empirical evidence on the income distribution effects of DT.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Chengming & Huo, Peng & Wang, Zeyu & Zhang, Weiguang & Liang, Feiyan & Mardani, Abbas, 2023. "Digitalization generates equality? Enterprises’ digital transformation, financing constraints, and labor share in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:163:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323002825
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323002825
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113924?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1993. "Factor Shares and Savings in Endogenous Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1184-1198, December.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "The wrong kind of AI? Artificial intelligence and the future of labour demand," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 13(1), pages 25-35.
    3. Riccardo Pariboni & Pasquale Tridico, 2019. "Labour share decline, financialisation and structural change," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(4), pages 1073-1102.
    4. David Autor & Anna Salomons, 2018. "Is Automation Labor-Displacing? Productivity Growth, Employment, and the Labor Share," NBER Working Papers 24871, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2019. "Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(2), pages 3-30, Spring.
    6. David Autor & Anna Salomons, 2018. "Is Automation Labor Share–Displacing? Productivity Growth, Employment, and the Labor Share," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 49(1 (Spring), pages 1-87.
    7. Alberto Alesina & Dani Rodrik, 1994. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 465-490.
    8. David Autor & David Dorn & Lawrence F Katz & Christina Patterson & John Van Reenen, 2020. "The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms [“Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 645-709.
    9. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(2), pages 553-609.
    10. Chirumalla, Koteshwar, 2021. "Building digitally-enabled process innovation in the process industries: A dynamic capabilities approach," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    11. Zhiqiang Lu & Junjie Wu & Hongyu Li & Duc Khuong Nguyen, 2022. "Local Bank, Digital Financial Inclusion and SME Financing Constraints: Empirical Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(6), pages 1712-1725, May.
    12. Nambisan, Satish & Wright, Mike & Feldman, Maryann, 2019. "The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress, challenges and key themes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    13. Matthias Kehrig & Nicolas Vincent, 2021. "The Micro-Level Anatomy of the Labor Share Decline," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 1031-1087.
    14. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    15. Dengler, Katharina & Matthes, Britta, 2018. "The impacts of digital transformation on the labour market: Substitution potentials of occupations in Germany," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 304-316.
    16. Caggese, Andrea & Cuñat, Vicente & Metzger, Daniel, 2019. "Firing the wrong workers: Financing constraints and labor misallocation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(3), pages 589-607.
    17. Weidong Chen & Xiaohui Yuan, 2021. "Financial inclusion in China: an overview," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    18. Damien Cubizol, 2018. "Transition and capital misallocation: the Chinese case," Post-Print halshs-02136943, HAL.
    19. Verhoef, Peter C. & Broekhuizen, Thijs & Bart, Yakov & Bhattacharya, Abhi & Qi Dong, John & Fabian, Nicolai & Haenlein, Michael, 2021. "Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 889-901.
    20. Hongnan Liu & Weili Liu & Guangchun Chen, 2022. "Environmental Information Disclosure, Digital Transformation, and Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Heavy Polluting Listed Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-20, August.
    21. Fossen, Frank M. & Sorgner, Alina, 2022. "New digital technologies and heterogeneous wage and employment dynamics in the United States: Evidence from individual-level data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    22. Aslı Leblebicioğlu & Ariel Weinberger, 2020. "Credit and the Labour Share: Evidence from US States," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(630), pages 1782-1816.
    23. Gao, Jing & Zhang, Wanfei & Guan, Tao & Feng, Qiuhong & Mardani, Abbas, 2023. "The effect of manufacturing agent heterogeneity on enterprise innovation performance and competitive advantage in the era of digital transformation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    24. Charles I. Jones, 2005. "The Shape of Production Functions and the Direction of Technical Change," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 517-549.
    25. Claessens, Stijn & Ueda, Kenichi, 2020. "Basic Employment Protection, Bargaining Power, and Economic Outcomes," Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting, now publishers, vol. 5(2), pages 179-229, September.
    26. Ferreira, João J.M. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F., 2019. "To be or not to be digital, that is the question: Firm innovation and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 583-590.
    27. Damien Cubizol, 2018. "Transition and capital misallocation: the Chinese case," Post-Print halshs-02055471, HAL.
    28. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Labor- And Capital-Augmenting Technical Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 1-37, March.
    29. Cubizol, Damien, 2018. "Transition and capital misallocation: the Chinese case," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 88-115.
    30. Li, Feng, 2020. "The digital transformation of business models in the creative industries: A holistic framework and emerging trends," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 92.
    31. Peterson K. Ozili, 2018. "Impact of digital finance on financial inclusion and stability," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 18(4), pages 329-340, December.
    32. Guofu Tan & Justin Yifu Lin, 1999. "Policy Burdens, Accountability, and the Soft Budget Constraint," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 426-431, May.
    33. Lv, Chengchao & Song, Jie & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "Can digital finance narrow the regional disparities in the quality of economic growth? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 502-521.
    34. Chan, Kenneth S. & Dang, Vinh Q.T. & Yan, Isabel K.M., 2012. "Financial reform and financing constraints: Some evidence from listed Chinese firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 482-497.
    35. Dabla-Norris, Era & Ji, Yan & Townsend, Robert M. & Filiz Unsal, D., 2021. "Distinguishing constraints on financial inclusion and their impact on GDP, TFP, and the distribution of income," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-18.
    36. Amitava Dutt & Anindya Sen, 1997. "Union bargaining power, employment, and output in a model of monopolistic competition with wage bargaining," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 1-17, February.
    37. Ryan Michaels & T Beau Page & Toni M Whited, 2019. "Labor and Capital Dynamics under Financing Frictions," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 279-323.
    38. Clarke, George R. G., 1995. "More evidence on income distribution and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 403-427, August.
    39. Ozili, Peterson Kitakogelu, 2018. "Impact of Digital Finance on Financial Inclusion and Stability," MPRA Paper 84771, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    40. Tao Zhang & Zhan-Zhong Shi & Yi-Rong Shi & Neng-Jun Chen, 2022. "Enterprise digital transformation and production efficiency: mechanism analysis and empirical research," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 2781-2792, December.
    41. Holger M. Mueller & Paige P. Ouimet & Elena Simintzi, 2017. "Wage Inequality and Firm Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 379-383, May.
    42. Gaglio, Cyrielle & Kraemer-Mbula, Erika & Lorenz, Edward, 2022. "The effects of digital transformation on innovation and productivity: Firm-level evidence of South African manufacturing micro and small enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    43. Matarazzo, Michela & Penco, Lara & Profumo, Giorgia & Quaglia, Roberto, 2021. "Digital transformation and customer value creation in Made in Italy SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 642-656.
    44. repec:bin:bpeajo:v:49:y:2019:i:2018-01:p:1-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    45. Sato, Ryuzo, 1970. "The Estimation of Biased Technical Progress and the Production Function," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 11(2), pages 179-208, June.
    46. Drago Bergholt & Francesco Furlanetto & Nicolò Maffei-Faccioli, 2022. "The Decline of the Labor Share: New Empirical Evidence," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 163-198, July.
    47. Porfírio, José António & Carrilho, Tiago & Felício, José Augusto & Jardim, Jacinto, 2021. "Leadership characteristics and digital transformation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 610-619.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tian, Lichuan & Sun, Kai & Yang, Jie & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Does digital economy affect corporate ESG performance? New insights from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 964-980.
    2. Zareie, Mobina & Attig, Najah & El Ghoul, Sadok & Fooladi, Iraj, 2024. "Firm digital transformation and corporate performance: The moderating effect of organizational capital," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Peng Liang & Xinhui Sun, 2024. "Does digital transformation promote the green innovation of China’s listed companies?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 22199-22235, September.
    4. Wang, Yizi & Li, Lanyi, 2024. "Digital economy, industrial structure upgrading, and residents' consumption: Empirical evidence from prefecture-level cities in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1045-1058.
    5. Zhu, Changchun & Li, Na & Ma, Jing, 2024. "Impact of CEO overconfidence on enterprise digital transformation: Moderating effect based on digital finance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    6. Wang, Guiying & Lamadrid, Richel L. & Huang, Yu, 2024. "Digital transformation and enterprise outward foreign direct investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Zhao, Xiaoqing & Yao, Chen, 2024. "Exacerbation or suppression? Digital transformation and shadow banking activities of non-financial firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Zhang, Ruchuan & Gao, Weiyan & Chen, Shanshan & Zhou, Li & Li, Aijun, 2024. "Dose digital transformation contribute to improving financing efficiency? Evidence and implications for energy enterprises in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    9. Chen, Bo & Xu, Huange & Li, Guangchen, 2023. "Entry deregulation and labor share: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    10. Chi Zhang & Xinyu Tian & Xiaojie Sun & Jian Xu & Yu Gao, 2024. "Digital Transformation, Board Diversity, and Corporate Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Jiang, Yiyun & Wang, Xiufeng & Sam, Toong Hai & Vasudevan, Asokan, 2024. "Digital transformation, equity pledge and labor income share," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Yang Yang & Jinmian Han, 2023. "Digital transformation, financing constraints, and corporate environmental, social, and governance performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 3189-3202, November.
    13. Zetian Cui & Qixin Wang & Xiaoting Wang & Jun Yang, 2024. "Green Technology Innovations and Corporate Customer Concentration—The Perspectives of Financing Constraints and Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-21, October.
    14. Zhong, Meirui & Qiang, Dan & Wang, Jinxian & Sun, Weizeng, 2024. "Improving health and reducing health inequality: An innovation of digitalization?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guimarães, Luís & Mazeda Gil, Pedro, 2022. "Explaining the Labor Share: Automation Vs Labor Market Institutions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Matteo G. Richiardi & Luis Valenzuela, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and the aggregate labour share," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 38(1), pages 66-101, March.
    3. Jacob, Tinu Iype & Paul, Sunil, 2024. "Labour income share, market power and automation: Evidence from an emerging economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 37-45.
    4. Wang, Weilong & Xiao, Deheng & Wang, Jianlong & Wu, Haitao, 2024. "The cost of pollution in the digital era: Impediments of air pollution on enterprise digital transformation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Drago Bergholt & Francesco Furlanetto & Nicolò Maffei-Faccioli, 2022. "The Decline of the Labor Share: New Empirical Evidence," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 163-198, July.
    6. Benjamin Moll & Lukasz Rachel & Pascual Restrepo, 2022. "Uneven Growth: Automation's Impact on Income and Wealth Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2645-2683, November.
    7. Wang, Linhui & Cao, Zhanglu & Dong, Zhiqing, 2023. "Are artificial intelligence dividends evenly distributed between profits and wages? Evidence from the private enterprise survey data in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 342-356.
    8. Guo, Bin & Zhang, Jiale & Tan, Ziyan, 2024. "Firm digitalization as strategic response: An integrated model based on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    9. Shimizu, Ryosuke & Momoda, Shohei, 2023. "Does automation technology increase wage?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Xu, Meng & Yang, Zhonghai & Lin, Yu-En & Li, Gaobo, 2024. "Maturity mismatched investment, digital financial inclusion, and digital orientation: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Consolo, Agostino & Cette, Gilbert & Bergeaud, Antonin & Labhard, Vincent & Osbat, Chiara & Kosekova, Stanimira & Anyfantaki, Sofia & Basso, Gaetano & Basso, Henrique & Bobeica, Elena & Ciapanna, Eman, 2021. "Digitalisation: channels, impacts and implications for monetary policy in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 266, European Central Bank.
    12. Fedorets Alexandra & Kirchner Stefan & Adriaans Jule & Giering Oliver, 2022. "Data on Digital Transformation in the German Socio-Economic Panel," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 691-705, December.
    13. Ying Wu & Yuanyue Deng, 2024. "Does digital transformation crowd out the employment of lower skill labor?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(3), pages 726-748, July.
    14. Liukai Wang & Caiting Wang & Larisa Yarovaya & Heshu Huang, 2024. "Trade credit and corporate digital transformation: The role of managerial ability," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 779-806, August.
    15. Kraft, Kornelius & Lammers, Alexander, 2021. "Bargaining Power and the Labor Share - a Structural Break Approach," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242342, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Panon, Ludovic, 2022. "Labor share, foreign demand and superstar exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Shi, Huaizhi, 2024. "Managerial ownership and labor income share," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    18. Davide Dottori, 2021. "Robots and employment: evidence from Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(2), pages 739-795, July.
    19. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5j3i17uo7399t940lrt6h6n545 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Zhou, Chao & Liao, Jinglin, 2024. "Home country digital finance development and post-entry internationalization speed of emerging market SMEs: Empirical evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    21. Reshef, Ariell & Santoni, Gianluca, 2023. "Are your labor shares set in Beijing? The view through the lens of global value chains," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digital transformation; Financing constraints; Labor share; Text mining;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:163:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323002825. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.