Digital knowledge acquisition and corporate sustainability performance: the mediating role of green knowledge structure
Lu Chen, Yanqin LvPurpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between digital knowledge acquisition and corporate sustainable development performance. From the perspective of green knowledge management, it examines whether digital knowledge acquisition can improve corporate sustainable development performance by reshaping the green knowledge management structure.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses 32,197 firm-year observations of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023. It constructs a firm-year digital knowledge acquisition indicator based on patent-citation information and measures corporate sustainable development performance across economic, environmental and social dimensions.
Findings
Digital knowledge acquisition significantly improves corporate sustainable development performance. More importantly, green knowledge management coherence plays a stronger mediating role in transforming digital knowledge into sustainable development results than the breadth of green knowledge management. In addition, management’s environmental attention and superstar inventors have significantly enhanced the positive impact of digital knowledge acquisition on sustainable development performance. Heterogeneous analysis shows that regional paths rely on institutional pressure to jointly condition the transformation of digital knowledge into sustainability outcomes.
Originality/value
This study shifts the research focus on the relationship between digitalisation and sustainable development from digital technology adoption to digital knowledge acquisition, divides green knowledge management into green knowledge management breadth and coherence, and verifies that structural integration is more conducive to the transformation of digital knowledge into sustainable value.