Science of Science and Management of S. & T.

Science of Science and Management of S. & T. ›› 2024, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (04): 137-156.

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Research on the Impact of Divestitures on SOE's Digital Technology Innovation: From the Perspective of Executives' Willingness and Ability

  

  1. 1. China Academy of Corporate Governance, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China; 2. Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
  • Received:2023-06-14 Online:2024-04-10 Published:2024-04-28

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Abstract: State-owned economy as the first Subject of China's socialist market economy, plays a modelling role in the field of digital technology innovation, but the state-owned enterprises "owner absence", "insider control" and other problems are more prominent, and management has the dual characteristics of "economic person" and "political person", so management is not willing to carry out digital innovation with a long return on investment cycle, and makes strategic decisions that are more concerned about achieving performance goals than long-term corporate interests, resulting in the existence of a large amount of excess capacity in the enterprise but insufficient investment in R&D. In recent years, in order to promote the high-quality development of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the government has introduced a series of policies to promote SOEs to remove excess capacity and focus on their main business which means realizing refocusing strategy, and divestiture is an effective way to realize the refocusing strategy. To a certain extent, divestiture decisions can reduce information asymmetry, improve internal governance structure, and alleviate the agency problem between shareholders and managers, so can divestiture influence management's myopia, promote enterprises to improve digital innovation, cultivate new impetus for economic growth, and effectively promote the transformation and upgrading of state-owned enterprises? What types of divestitures can promote enterprises to improve digital technology innovation? What contexts can influence the relationship between SOEs' divestiture and digital technology innovation? The above questions deserve in-depth discussion. Using a sample of Chinese state-owned A-share listed firms during 2003-2021, the result shows asset divestitures could improve the digital innovation level of state-owned enterprises, mainly related asset divestitures and strategic asset divestitures could improve digital innovation. Based on the executives' "willingness-ability" perspective, the result shows that asset divestitures could improve the digital innovation by alleviating internal information asymmetry and increasing digital innovation attention respectively. And through establishing the mediated moderation model and the moderated mediation model, it shows that the positive moderating effect of directors appointed by non-state-owned shareholders on the relationship between asset divestiture and digital technology innovation is achieved by alleviating the intermediary effect of information asymmetry, and the information technology background of executives positively regulates the intermediary path of asset divestiture to improve management's digital innovation attention. In addition, by analyzing the research subject of state-owned enterprises, the positive correlation between divestitures and digital innovation is more obvious in local state-owned enterprises, high-tech state-owned enterprises, technology intensive state-owned enterprises, and commercial competitive state-owned enterprises. The research has yielded the following implications: Firstly, government departments should further increase their policy support for the digital transformation of state-owned enterprises. Effective guidance should be provided to enterprises to improve their digital technology innovation, encourage them to actively make strategic adjustments, achieve rational allocation of resources, and continuously promote the digital transformation. Secondly, it is necessary to encourage the capital market to effectively identify corporate divestment strategies. The disclosure of information on asset divestments by enterprises is relatively incomplete, with only basic information such as the transacting parties and objects disclosed, making it difficult to obtain the true intentions. This research finds that related divestments and strategic divestments can effectively improve digital innovation, and different types of divestments can help investors to a certain extent in identifying the implementation intentions of corporate divestment decisions. Thirdly, it is crucial to enhance the awareness and capabilities of management in digital transformation. Unlike traditional IT technology, digital technology has a revolutionary and disruptive impact. Enterprise executives play a crucial role in strategic decision-making, and therefore, it is necessary to strengthen technical training for management, increase investment in technological elements, and improve their awareness and capabilities in digital strategic transformation.

Key words: digital innovation, related divestitures, strategic divestitures, directors appointed by non-state-owned shareholders, executives' information technology background

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