Does Digital Transformation Enhance the Innovation Capability of Marine Enterprises?: Empirical evidence from marine listed companies

The drive to propel innovative development within the marine industry is an essential requirement in constructing a distinct marine powerhouse for China. The pivotal element in achieving innovation within this industry lies in augmenting the innovative capabilities of enterprises through the digitization transformation. This study is anchored in the panel data of 92 publicly listed Chinese marine companies spanning from 2007 to 2021. Leveraging Python technology, keywords related to "digitization transformation" were systematically extracted from annual corporate reports, aggregating their frequency to formulate a digitization transformation intensity index. Building upon this foundation, a panel fixed-effects model was employed to empirically examine the impact of enterprise digitization transformation on their innovation capabilities. The findings reveal a significant positive influence of digitization transformation within Chinese marine listed companies on their innovation capabilities, a conclusion upheld even after robustness tests. When distinguishing among different corporate natures, it becomes apparent that, in comparison to non-state-owned listed enterprises, digitization transformation within state-owned marine listed companies exerts a more substantial and conspicuous positive effect on enhancing research and development innovation capabilities. Hence, advancing digital technological development among marine listed companies, enhancing their capability for digitization transformation, and prioritizing the cultivation of state-owned exemplary digital marine enterprises stand as critically imperative measures to drive innovation development within marine enterprises.