How the Digital Economy Shapes Green Competitiveness: Empirical Evidence from China

How the Digital Economy Shapes Green Competitiveness: Empirical Evidence from China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article How the Digital Economy Shapes Green Competitiveness: Empirical Evidence from China lingjun guo, wenyu tan, lingfeng sun, YAN LI This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8047089/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 15 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the context of global efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, green competitiveness has become a vital pillar for enterprises striving toward sustainable development. The digital economy, characterized by its capacity to optimize resource allocation and foster green innovation, plays an increasingly pivotal role in enhancing firms’ green competitiveness.To address this, the study employs a fixed-effects model and incorporates both mediation and threshold analyses to explore how the digital economy influences green competitiveness, while further identifying the optimal strategic conditions that enhance this relationship.The results indicate that:(1)The digital economy significantly enhances green competitiveness; however, the degree of its impact varies depending on the level of green finance, the maturity of the technology market, and the progress of digital transformation;(2) New productive forces and the misallocation of innovation resources act as mediating pathways linking the digital economy to green competitiveness;(3)There is a significant nonlinear relationship between the digital economy’s influence on green competitiveness and the extent to which low-carbon transition strategies are implemented and high-quality development goals are advanced.The results clarify the pathways through which the digital economy shapes green competitiveness, offering grounded insights that can guide more effective and context-specific policy efforts to support China's green transition and sustained quality growth. Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Digital Economy Green Competitiveness New Productive Forces Low-Carbon Transition Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 26 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 22 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 20 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 10 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Jan, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 12 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 24 Dec, 2025 Editor invited by journal 19 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Nov, 2025 First submitted to journal 19 Nov, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8047089","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":574241627,"identity":"d3ce77fb-bd94-4990-9b5e-18dacd333373","order_by":0,"name":"lingjun guo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Changzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"lingjun","middleName":"","lastName":"guo","suffix":""},{"id":574241628,"identity":"886c9438-8a11-4c6e-bef4-cdb80e74600a","order_by":1,"name":"wenyu 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The digital economy, characterized by its capacity to optimize resource allocation and foster green innovation, plays an increasingly pivotal role in enhancing firms\u0026rsquo; green competitiveness.To address this, the study employs a fixed-effects model and incorporates both mediation and threshold analyses to explore how the digital economy influences green competitiveness, while further identifying the optimal strategic conditions that enhance this relationship.The results indicate that:(1)The digital economy significantly enhances green competitiveness; however, the degree of its impact varies depending on the level of green finance, the maturity of the technology market, and the progress of digital transformation;(2) New productive forces and the misallocation of innovation resources act as mediating pathways linking the digital economy to green competitiveness;(3)There is a significant nonlinear relationship between the digital economy\u0026rsquo;s influence on green 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