Abstract

Extant research focuses on the antecedents and outcomes of digital transformation in enterprises. This study intends to investigate the driving factors of digital transformation from an international perspective, explicating the relationship between enterprises' overseas R&D investments and digital transformation. Drawing on insights from the perspectives of social networks and resource-based views, we argue that overseas R&D investment can facilitate the digital transformation of enterprises. And this positive effect is strengthened as the enterprise is non-state-owned and conglomerate-affiliated and as its motivation is exploratory learning when it implements its overseas R&D investment. We employ the PSM-DID model and heterogeneity tests to investigate the impact and boundary conditions of overseas R&D investment on digital transformation, using data from Chinese listed enterprises across six manufacturing industries between 2010 and 2018. Our analysis finds supportive evidence. We discuss implications for the burgeoning literature on digital transformation and international business.