Managerial ability, digital transformation and innovation efficiency: empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing listed companies

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of internal control. Design/methodology/approach This study collected A-share manufacturing listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019 and analyzed the data by means of multiple regression analysis, mediating effect test, moderating effect test and heterogeneity test. Finally, the authors conducted robustness test by remeasuring key variables and adding control variables. Findings The empirical results show that the higher managerial ability can improve innovation efficiency, internal control has a positive moderating effect and digital transformation plays a partial mediating effect on the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency. Specially, it is found that the mediating effect of digital transformation is not significant in non-state-owned firms. Practical implications This study suggests that it is necessary to focus on the managerial ability in terms of both cultivation and supervision, to further deepen the digital transformation from the aspects of firms, government and society, especially to support the digital transformation of non-state-owned firms, and to make efforts to improve the corporate governance mechanism and internal control system, so as to better comprehensively realize the improvement of enterprise innovation efficiency. Originality/value Based on the mediating effect analysis of digital transformation and the moderating effect analysis of internal control, this study explores the role of managerial ability on innovation efficiency from a new perspective, expanding the related theoretical framework and research boundaries.