Presentation Schedule
How AI Adoption Shapes ESG Performance in Manufacturing: the Mediating Role of Digital Transformation (106193)
Session Chair: Yuanxin Li
This presentation will be live-streamed via Zoom (Online Access)
Wednesday, 13 May 2026 11:55
Session: Session 1
Room: Live-Stream Room 6
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
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As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance is now a central indicator of corporate sustainability and long-run competitiveness, this paper examines whether firms’ adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) improves ESG performance and whether digital transformation (DT) mediates this relationship. Using text-based measures for Chinese A-share listed firms over 2007–2023, we document three findings. First, AI adoption is positively associated with ESG, with markedly stronger effects in manufacturing. Second, instrumental-variables (2SLS) estimates and a range of robustness checks using alternative measures and specifications support the baseline results. Third, DT is a key organisational channel: it partially mediates the AI–ESG relationship in manufacturing and largely accounts for it outside manufacturing, with stronger mediation for environmental and social pillars than for governance. Overall, the evidence suggests that AI delivers more measurable sustainability gains when complemented by DT
Authors:
Yuanxin Li, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China
About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Yuanxin Li, Assistant Professor at NJUST. Research: Chinese foreign aid, power competition, and AI’s impact on business/society.
See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule
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