The Impact of Corporate Digital Transformation on Green Total Factor Productivity—The Role of Environmental Regulation

Drawing on data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2011 and 2020, this paper explores how corporate digital transformation shapes Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) and its underlying components. The findings suggest that digital transformation promotes GTFP by enhancing innovation capability and accounting transparency, while simultaneously reducing financing frictions. However, stricter environmental regulation attenuates these positive effects, particularly with respect to Green Technological Efficiency Change (GTEC). Non-state-owned enterprises, industrial firms, and high-carbon emitters can more effectively leverage digital transformation to enhance their GTFP; however, the negative impact of environmental regulations is also more pronounced among these entities. The interaction between digital transformation and GTFP elevates corporate market value, with this value effect primarily stemming from improvements in GTEC. By decomposing GTFP into Green Technological Change (GTC) and GTEC, this study clarifies the operational pathways of digital transformation and environmental regulations, enriching the theoretical framework for green productivity research. It reveals the channel-specific effects of environmental regulations—namely, their primary modulation of digital transformation’s green enabling role through influencing GTEC rather than GTC—and systematically integrates multiple pathways for enhancing green productivity via digital transformation, green innovation, information transparency, and financing mechanisms. This provides mechanistic guidance for corporate green development strategies. The research highlights digital transformation’s pivotal role in advancing corporate green development, offering practical insights for policymakers and business managers in promoting sustainable development and formulating environmental policies.