Can digital empowerment enhance the brand value of China's enterprises?

The Fourth Sci-tech Revolution, characterised by digital empowerment, has reshaped the global value chain's developmental trajectory, introducing novel opportunities and driving forces to augment brand value, particularly in developing nations. Utilising panel data encompassing China's top 500 companies from 2011 to 2020, this study employs a fixed-effect panel data model alongside the chain mediation model. It systematically examines how digital empowerment impacts enterprises across three dimensions: upgrading consumption objects, consumption concepts, and consumption patterns. The findings indicate a significant correlation between digital empowerment and an enterprise's brand value. Notably, digital empowerment substantially influences the enhancement of brand value through consumption upgrading, particularly regarding consumption patterns and objects. Conversely, it hinders brand value enhancement through consumption concept upgrading. The intricate multi-chain intermediary effect involving consumption patterns, concepts, and objects renders the impact of digital empowerment on brand value somewhat uncertain. Hence, caution is warranted concerning the potential outflow and contraction of consumption resulting from consumption upgrading.