The Internet of Things (IoT), as an important technical domain in the future, has received wide attention globally from different disciplines. The research output in this domain, therefore, grew rapidly in the past 10 years. This study deeply investigates the knowledge base and knowledge development trajectory of the domain since the IoT was proffered in 1999. By adopting basic statistical and keyword co-occurrence methods, the most influential countries, institutions, journals and scholars in the domain, as well as the division of core, hot keywords and subdomains, are investigated. By using the main path analysis method, a survey is conducted on the development trajectory of the domain on the basis of knowledge inheritance; the four core branches-industry, big data, cloud computing and IoT security; and the three application studies of industry, healthcare and smart city.

Digital transformation has been widely studied for its impact on corporate performance, innovation, and efficiency, yet its effect on ESG imbalance has received little attention. We address this gap by constructing a text-based digital empowerment index from corporate annual reports of Chinese listed firms in 2010–2020, while ESG imbalance is measured using the standardized absolute difference between environmental and social responsibilities. The results reveal that digital empowerment significantly exacerbates ESG imbalance, with the effect being more pronounced in mid-central cities, competitive industries, and heavily polluting sectors. Strong governance, state ownership, and balanced resource allocation are found to mitigate this imbalance, while dynamic analysis confirms its persistence over time. These findings highlight the need for targeted policies that enhance governance capacity, promote equitable resource allocation, and address sustainability risks associated with digital transformation.