The impact of digital transformation on agricultural green total factor productivity: moderating and threshold effects of farmland scale operation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Drawing on the perspective of farmland scale operation, this paper investigates how digital transformation affects agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). Using Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2023, we measure the level of agricultural digital transformation via the entropy method and compute AGTFP using the GML index based on the super-efficiency EBM distance function. Empirically, we employ two-way fixed effects models, moderating effect models, and panel threshold models. The results show that agricultural digital transformation significantly improves AGTFP, a finding that remains robust after addressing endogeneity and conducting a series of robustness checks. This positive effect is heterogeneous across regions, being more pronounced in eastern regions and major grain-producing areas. Furthermore, farmland scale operation positively moderates the relationship between digital transformation and AGTFP. Notably, this moderating effect exhibits a single-threshold nonlinear pattern with increasing marginal effects, suggesting a structural turning point in the enabling role of digital transformation under different levels of farmland scale operation. Overall, this paper provides new empirical evidence on the linkages among agricultural digital transformation, scale operation, and green agricultural transition, with important policy implications for promoting sustainable agriculture and optimizing the integration of digital technologies with scale operation policies.
Authors: Xiuping Ma, Guangchen Wang, Xiaotong Ni, Chun Yang
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,353
OpenAlex ID: W7223186614