Research on the promotion effect and mechanisms of digital empowerment of food enterprises

Based on panel data from 2010 to 2020 of 151 A-share listed food-related enterprises in China, this research uses a fixed-effect model to analyse the impact of digital transformation on total factor productivity (TFP) in food-related enterprises. Our findings indicated that digital transformation has a positive and significant catalytic effect on TFP improvement in food-related enterprises. The mechanism test revealed that both cost-saving and innovation capacity enhancement effects of digital transformation contributed to the promotion of TFP improvement in these enterprises. Moreover, our heterogeneity analysis suggested that digital transformation is more effective in enhancing TFP in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the food-related industry, indicating that SOEs play a representative role in promoting advanced productivity in agricultural development. We also found that capital-intensive and technology-intensitve food-related enterprises were experiencing productivity paradox traps. Our results confirmed that digital transformation brings catch-up effects to labor-intensive food-related enterprises and those located in major grain production regions. Overall, this research can provide valuable insights for policymakers to upgrade the digital-enabled food industry.