Corporate social responsibility, digital economy, and corporate energy utilization efficiency-based on moderating effect and heterogeneity analysis

Using a dataset of Chinese listed companies spanning 2009–2022, this study examines the correlation among corporate social responsibility (CSR), the digital economy, and corporate energy utilization efficiency. The empirical results demonstrate that actively fulfilling social responsibility can enhance a company's energy utilization efficiency. Furthermore, the development of the digital economy contributes to improving energy utilization efficiency. The digital economy plays a moderating role in the relationship between CSR fulfillment and corporate energy utilization efficiency, with this moderating effect exhibiting heterogeneity between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private enterprises (PEs). Moreover, the impact of CSR and the digital economy on energy utilization efficiency show heterogeneity between SOEs and PEs.