Supply chain digitalization, green technology innovation and corporate energy efficiency

As global concerns over energy consumption and carbon emissions continue to intensify, improving energy efficiency has become a key challenge for organizations. There is an urgent need to explore new paths to improve energy efficiency. Based on the data of listed companies in China from 2013 to 2022 and using the implementation of supply chain innovation and application pilot work as a quasi-natural experiment, we use the PSMDID model to assess the effect of supply chain digitization on corporate energy efficiency as well as the role of the potential mechanism of green technology innovation. It was found that supply chain digitization significantly promoted enterprise energy efficiency. The conclusion remains valid after robustness tests such as parallel trend tests, sensitivity tests, and placebo tests. Mechanistic analysis suggests that supply chain digitization can promote corporate energy efficiency by facilitating the quantity, quality, and innovation persistence of green technology innovations, which in turn promotes corporate energy efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the energy efficiency promotion effect of supply chain digitization is stronger for firms with lower institutional attention, larger scale, growth, and maturity. The conclusions of this paper suggest that policymakers and business managers should pay attention to the potential value of supply chain digitization in promoting corporate energy efficiency and supporting environmental sustainability, with a view to achieving both economic and environmental benefits.