劳动力成本与企业数字化转型:机制讨论与经验证据  

Labor Cost and Enterprise Digital Transformation:Mechanism Discussion and Empirical Evidence

作　　者：赵宸宇 李炳钰 ZHAO Chenyu;LI Bingyu(School of Finance(School of Zheshang Asset Management),Zhejiang Gongshang University,Hangzhou 310018,China;Department of Economics,University of Wisconsin-Madison,Madison 53711,United States)

机构地区：[1]浙江工商大学金融学院(浙商资产管理学院),浙江杭州310018 [2]威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校经济系,美国威斯康星州53711

出　　处：《当代经济科学》2024年第6期103-115,共13页Modern Economic Science

基　　金：国家社会科学基金青年项目“制造业企业数字化转型的驱动模式与推进策略研究”(23CJY085)。

摘　　要：面对不断攀升的劳动力成本,企业应该如何转型以提高市场竞争力,对于企业的生存和发展具有重要意义。为此,从理论层面梳理劳动力成本影响企业数字化转型的内在机制,并使用2007—2020年中国制造业上市公司数据实证检验劳动力成本对企业数字化转型的驱动作用。研究发现,劳动力成本显著推动了企业数字化转型。异质性分析显示,对于劳动密集型企业、高科技行业以及高市场竞争度行业,劳动力成本对企业数字化转型有更强的驱动作用。在影响机制方面,劳动力成本可以通过增加数字投资、促进数字创新以及优化人力资本结构的机制推动企业数字化转型。进一步研究发现,供给侧的创业环境以及需求侧的消费升级在劳动力成本与企业数字化转型之间起到正向调节作用,同时劳动力成本通过驱动数字化转型可以提高企业全要素生产率。因此,企业应重视利用数字化转型应对劳动力成本上涨,政府应大力支持企业创新驱动发展,通过体制机制改革为企业数字化转型创造良好的外部条件,帮助企业更好地应对劳动力成本攀升问题。Summary In recent years,the fading of China’s demographic dividend and escalating labor costs have created significant challenges for the manufacturing sector.Companies face growing pressure to adapt and sustain competitiveness amid these rising costs.This paper investigates whether digital transformation offers a viable strategic solution for companies to address high labor expenses.While existing studies often examine corporate digital transformation from the angles of policy support,competitive pressure,and technological innovation,few directly analyze the role of labor costs as a driving force behind this shift.This study uses a dataset of China’s A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2007 to 2020,combined with city-level data,to explore how labor costs drive digital transformation in enterprises.Our empirical analysis confirms that rising labor costs significantly encourage companies to adopt digital practices.Furthermore,heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is especially pronounced in labor-intensive sectors,high-tech industries,and markets with intense competition.Labor costs drive digital transformation through three main pathways:increasing digital investment,fostering digital innovation,and optimizing human capital structure.These mechanisms illustrate how companies may strategically respond to labor cost pressures by leveraging digital advancements.Additionally,we explore the factors that influence the relationship between labor costs and digital transformation.Our findings indicate that the entrepreneurial environment on the supply side and demand-side consumption upgrades positively regulate the impact of labor costs on digital transformation.These factors strengthen the link between high labor costs and the adoption of digital strategies,providing valuable insights into the conditions under which digital transformation becomes most viable.The economic benefits of labor cost-driven digital transformation are also assessed in this paper.Our results suggest that such transformation can

关 键 词：劳动力成本 数字化转型 数字投资 数字创新 数字人才 

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