Purpose. This paper aims to study the role of digital finance in driving industrial and green transformation by considering regional heterogeneity. The result aims to provide insights for policymakers and practitioners to develop targeted strategies for promoting sustainable industrial development through the leveraging of digital finance and technological innovation. Design/methodology/approach. This paper examines how digital finance affects the industrial and green transformation in China, considering its heterogeneity across various aspects and dimensions. It uses panel data from 31 provinces and municipalities in China during 2011–2020 to analyze the relationship between digital finance and industrial transformation, with technological innovation as a mediating factor. The findings are robust and tested by using various robust and endogeneity approaches. Findings. The results show that digital finance has a positive and significant impact on the advancement, efficiency and green aspects of industrial transformation, which is mediated by technological innovation. As the levels of digital finance development and technological innovation improve, the incentive effect of digital finance strengthens. Additionally, the positive impact of digital finance on the efficiency of industrial transformation is only observed in the eastern regions, while in the central and western regions, digital finance primarily influences the advancement and green aspects of industrial transformation. Originality/value. This paper introduces digital finance and ecological indicators into the analysis of industrial structure transformation, presenting a unique contribution to existing literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers to include digital finance, technological innovation and green transformation of industrial structure within the same research framework. This paper examines how digital finance affects the industrial and green transformation in China, taking into account its heterogeneity across various aspects and dimensions. The paper uses panel data from 31 provinces and municipalities during 2011–2020 to analyze the relationship. The result presents that digital finance has a positive and significant impact on the development of the advancement, efficiency and green aspects of industrial transformation, mediated by technological innovation. As the levels of digital finance development and technological innovation continue to improve, the incentive effect of digital finance strengthens. Moreover, the positive impact of digital finance on the efficiency of industrial transformation is only observed in the eastern regions, while in the central and western regions, digital finance primarily influences the advancement and green aspects of industrial transformation.
Zhang YunhuiWang Juanxi Sun YanLi Shaofang
Oxford Brookes Business School
Year of publication: 2025Date of RADAR deposit: 2024-10-22