Digital transformation is a strategic change process that triggers significant
changes in the attributes of an enterprise entity through a combination of information,
computing, communication, and connectivity technologies. This process thereby improves the
enterprise entity and enhances its comprehensive competitive advantages. By utilizing relevant
digital technologies, it can effectively promote the digital transformation of enterprises and
industries. In the specific application process: on the one hand, it aims to accelerate the digital
transformation and upgrading of enterprises and comprehensively deepen the digital
transformation of key industries; on the other hand, it seeks to promote the digital
transformation of industrial parks and industrial clusters, and to cultivate a transformation
support service ecosystem. In terms of its breadth of influence, digital transformation can not
only promote the high-quality development of the macro economy, but also impact the capital
market performance of micro enterprises.
However, there is a discrepancy between the words and actions of some companies regarding
digital transformation. That is, they claim to have a rich digital transformation strategy, but
their actual investment is relatively meager. This discrepancy exacerbates the risk of share
price collapse and affects the stability of the capital market, which in turn further impacts the
actual benefits of enterprises. In this paper, we select a sample of listed companies in China’s
Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2010 to 2021 to empirically analyze the specific impact
of digital transformation with inconsistent words and deeds of enterprises on the risk of stock
price collapse, and to explore the possible causes of such inconsistency. It is found that digital
transformation with inconsistent rhetoric and behavior leads to a significant increase in the risk
of share price collapse faced by firms, and this finding remains robust after a series of
robustness tests. In a further study, a deeper investigation into the causes of digital
transformation misalignment reveals that firms’ perceptions of economic policy uncertainty
significantly widen the gap between firms’ digital transformation “words” and “deeds”, with a
more pronounced effect in the sample of loss-making firms. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity test
shows that investors are more tolerant of SOEs’ digital transformation behaviors that are
inconsistent with their rhetoric.
These findings, on the one hand, provide an interpretable explanation for the disparity findings
in previous studies, and on the other hand, offer new ideas for enhancing the stability of the
capital market and realizing the high-quality development of the economy. From a policy
perspective, attention should be paid to the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the
digital transformation of enterprises, and efforts should be made to actively reduce such
uncertainty in order to promote a more “real” digital transformation. In addition, enterprises
should focus on consistency between words and deeds, enhance transparency, and adhere to
“real” digital transformation actions in order to reduce the risk of stock price collapse,
establish a good corporate image, and attract more investment. Overall, the research in this
paper provides useful insights for understanding the relationship between corporate digital
transformation words and actions and stock price crash risk, as well as new insights for the
stability of the capital market and the advancement of high-quality development of China’s
economy.
In response to the phenomenon of inconsistency in corporate digital transformation, this paper
argues that the government should consider and formulate policies to regulate corporate
behavior, as this phenomenon may pose a potential threat to the stability of the capital market
and the interests of investors. By discussing the inconsistencies in the digital transformation of
enterprises, we can accurately identify whether the enterprises have actually fulfilled their
promises of digital transformation in the future, or whether they have only remained at the
level of false propaganda. Then, reasonable thresholds can be set to effectively limit the
excessive propaganda behavior of enterprises in digital transformation, thereby better
protecting the interests of investors at the source and building a solid foundation for the long
term and stable development of the capital market. On the other hand, the relevant regulatory
authorities need to conduct a comprehensive and systematic assessment of enterprises whose
words and deeds are inconsistent. Based on the assessment results, severe penalties should be
imposed on enterprises whose words exceed their deeds, forming a strong deterrent. At the
same time, timely and effective encouragement and support should be given to enterprises
whose deeds exceed their words, stimulating their motivation and creativity.