Digital M&A, known as digital merger and acquisition, is a vital tool for companies to achieve digital transformation and play an essential role in sustainable development. Corporate digital M&A is inseparable from financial support. Therefore, based on the M&A data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011–2020, this paper systematically analyzes the impact effect of digital finance on corporate digital M&A in combination with the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index. The results show that: (1) Digital finance development contributes to the implementation of digital M&A by enterprises, and the higher the level of development, the more likely enterprises are to engage in digital M&A. (2) Financing constraints and the innovation capacity play a partially intermediary role between digital finance and digital M&A. (3) Executive age and internal control negatively moderate the relationship between digital finance and digital M&A, and bank competition positively moderates the relationship. These research findings provide useful lessons for promoting digital M&A and accelerating digital transformation in enterprises.

Practicing ESG concepts is considered a viable way to achieve sustainable development for enterprises and is an important contributor to realizing high-quality economic development. This paper builds on the upper echelons theory, which posits that a company’s strategic decisions are influenced by the cognitive perceptions and values of its CEO. Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the impact of CEOs’ green, academic, and political experiences on corporate ESG performance through multiple regression analysis. This study found that CEO experience has a significant impact on corporate ESG performance: rich green, academic, and political experience promotes corporate ESG performance. A stepwise regression test found that CEO experience drives corporate ESG performance by improving corporate green innovation and alleviating financing constraints. Further analysis showed that the contribution of CEO experience to ESG performance is more pronounced for firms with younger CEOs, non-state-owned enterprises, and high-polluting industries, although CEO gender is insignificant. The findings of this study provide important policy implications to improve ESG responsibility.

In the context of the digital economy, the external connection of executives provides enterprises with a good idea to amplify their potential for digital transformation with the help of external forces. Therefore, we conduct a theoretical exploration and an empirical analysis of the relationship between executive connections and enterprise digital transformation. As the research sample, we use the A-share manufacturing companies listed in China from 2012 to 2021. According to sufficient verifications, we discover that executive connections can effectively support digital transformation. From the perspective of each subdivision dimension, executive business connections, executive technical connections, and executive financial connections can significantly promote digital transformation, among which executive technical connections have the greatest favorable impact. However, the impact of executive political connections on digital transformation is not obvious. Additionally, executive connections primarily foster enterprise digital transformation by reducing enterprise asset specificity. The results of the boundary mechanism test demonstrate that the external environmental dynamics and the internal dynamic capabilities reinforce the positive effect of executive connections on digital transformation. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of executive connections in digital transformation and provide practical guidance for firms to accelerate digital transformation.

Board informal hierarchy plays a crucial role in board governance and corporate strategic decision-making. The article empirically examines the impact of board informal hierarchy on corporate digital transformation based on relational contract theory, using a fixed-effects model with Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed manufacturing companies from 2012 to 2019 as research subjects. The findings of this study demonstrate a positive correlation between board informal hierarchy and digital transformation. Specifically, the presence of a chairman with the highest rank in the informal hierarchy strengthens this relationship, while the presence of a CEO with the highest rank weakens it. Mechanistic analysis shows that informal hierarchy accelerates digital transformation through three channels: improving board decision-making efficiency, mitigating management myopia, and facilitating information communication. This study extends existing research. On the one hand, this paper explores the drivers of digital transformation in manufacturing firms at the level of corporate governance and board characteristics. The findings provide empirical evidence to support the understanding of transformational change behaviors of manufacturing enterprises in the digital economy. On the other hand, it also opens up the “black box” of the internal operation of the board and provides valuable lessons for strengthening board governance. JEL Classification: D21; M12; Z13.