External regulatory and normative pressures from both the Chinese central environmental protection inspection (CEPI) program and public participation can act together to influence corporate environmental governance behavior. This research uses the multiperiod Difference-In-Differences method to test the compound impact of CEPI and public participation on corporate environmental governance strategies and investigate the underlying influence mechanisms. The results show that CEPI and public participation have a positive compound effect on the corporate “source-control” strategy. A reasonable reduction in pollution charges and increased environmental subsidies are essential to stimulate the green innovation potential of heavily polluting firms. Our research helps clarify the game relationship between the central and the local governments and analyzes how the relationship between the government, the public, and corporates affects environmental governance, thereby advancing principal-agent theory and expanding the current research on institutional pressures and corporate environmental governance.

Purpose: Digital transformation misalignment refers to disparities in digital transformation levels between suppliers and buyers across the production and operation process. It has negatively affected supply chain stability. However, the existing research concerning the economic consequences has not been adequately addressed. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate whether such digital transformation misalignment increases supplier financial risk and to identify the factors influencing this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines binary combinations of suppliers and buyers listed on China’s A-share market between 2011 and 2021. This group constitutes a sample to empirically test the influence of digital transformation misalignment on the supplier’s financial risk, as well as the moderating effect of the geographical and organizational distances. Findings: The paper’s findings demonstrate that digital transformation misalignment has indeed a significant increase in the supplier’s financial risk. Moreover, the impact is more intense when the geographical or organizational distance between the supplier and the buyer is relatively large. Originality/value: The existing literature rarely explores the potential risks arising from digital transformation misalignment between supply chain partners. Therefore, this paper fills a notable gap as it is the first to study the impact of digital transformation misalignment on the supplier’s financial risk and the specific applied mechanisms. The contribution significantly improves the field of corporate digital transformation, particularly, within the context of supply chain management.

Digital government transformation (DGT) is a major reform toward modernized governance. It provides a new pattern to manage environmental pollution and promote sustainable development goals. Thus, in this study, a quasi-natural experiment using the Big Data Bureau (BDB) of China is conducted to investigate the impact of DGT on corporate environmental violation (CEV) via a multiperiod difference-in-differences model. DGT is found to inhibit CEV. The pressure from government environmental regulation and public environmental scrutiny play important roles as mechanisms of the effect. In addition, the impact of DGT on firms exhibits heterogeneity under different conditions. The environmental effect of DGT is stronger in BDBs for e-administrative services than BDBs for industrial development, and DGT works better at inhibiting CEV for state-owned enterprises and firms in regions with high digitalization. However, the effect of DGT is not significant for firms in heavily polluting industries. This article enriches the research on the environmental effect of DGT by providing an empirical investigation of the impact of DGT on CEV. It helps to provide insights for developing countries as to how they can leverage strengths of government reforms to promote the construction of a collaborative environmental governance system and improve their sustainable development.