Research on The Impact of Intelligent Manufacturing onEnterprise ESG Performance: Empirical EvidenceOf Economics from China
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Background: The integration of intelligent manufacturing technologies and corporate sustainability has emerged as a critical research frontier in the era of Industry 4.0. While Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance increasingly shapes corporate valuation and stakeholder relations, the economic mechanisms through which intelligent manufacturing influences ESG outcomes remain theoretically underdeveloped and empirically underexplored, particularly in emerging market contexts where institutional environments differ substantially from developed economies. Methods: Exploiting China's Intelligent Manufacturing Pilot Demonstration Projects (IMPP) as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) design with 18,426 firm-year observations from 2,149 Chinese A-share manufacturing companies during 2009-2023. We examine direct effects using two-way fixed effects models, investigate mediating mechanisms through the Baron-Kenny approach supplemented by Sobel tests, and explore heterogeneous effects across ownership structures, pollution intensities, and competitive environments using split-sample analysis with Chow tests for coefficient equality. Results: Intelligent manufacturing significantly enhances enterprise ESG performance (β = 0.245, p < 0.01), representing a 5.3% improvement relative to the sample mean. This finding demonstrates robust consistency across parallel trend tests, placebo simulations (500 iterations), propensity score matching (PSM-DID), and instrumental variable (IV-2SLS) estimations. Mechanism analysis reveals three significant transmission channels: green innovation (mediating 24.6% of total effect, β = 0.186, p < 0.01), resource allocation efficiency (16.6%, β = 0.142, p < 0.01), and synergistic governance (7.9%, β = 0.098, p < 0.05). Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates significantly stronger effects for non-state-owned enterprises (β = 0.312 vs. 0.168, χ² = 8.45, p < 0.01), heavy-polluting industries (β = 0.356 vs. 0.186, χ² = 12.67, p < 0.01), and high-competition markets (β = 0.298 vs. 0.152, χ² = 5.23, p < 0.05). Sub-dimensional analysis reveals that environmental performance benefits most substantially (β = 0.324), followed by social (β = 0.218) and governance (β = 0.142) dimensions. Conclusions: This study establishes intelligent manufacturing as an economically significant pathway for enhancing corporate ESG performance in emerging markets, with heterogeneous effects contingent upon ownership structure, industrial characteristics, and competitive dynamics. These findings advance theoretical understanding of technology-sustainability linkages, provide empirical foundations for evidence-based industrial policy design, and offer practical guidance for managers navigating the dual imperatives of technological transformation and sustainable development.
DOI: 10.14419/m0f0bq97
Authors: Chen Xu, Batkhuyag Ganbaatar
Institutions: Chifeng University, University of Finance and Economics
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7125510329