Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of digital transformation on green innovation in China's agricultural listed companies, focusing on the moderating role of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Research Design, Data and Methodology: This study uses quantitative research methods, selecting annual report data of China's agricultural listed companies from 2014 to 2023 and Huazheng ESG data, using a regression model of panel data analysis to explore the impact of digital transformation on green innovation and explore ESG moderating effect. Results: Digital transformation has a significant negative impact on green innovation (coefficient = -0.048, p < 0.05), particularly due to resource reallocation during technology upgrades. ESG performance moderates this relationship (interaction term coefficient = -0.113, p < 0.05), intensifying the negative effects rather than mitigating them. Conclusions: Digital transformation of agricultural enterprises is crucial to green technology innovation. However, the improvement of ESG performance has not only failed to alleviate this negative impact, but has made the problem worse. Specifically, ESG performance plays a key mediating role in the connection between digital transformation and green innovation, and this mediating role actually helps to amplify the negative consequences of digital transformation rather than reduce them.