企业数字化转型同群效应的动因与后果OACHSSCD

As the world's second-largest digital economy,China has witnessed the continuous deepening of corporate digital transformation.Against this backdrop,an increasing number of firms have undertaken digital transformation initiatives in response to similar actions adopted by their industry peers,giving rise to pronounced peer effects in digital transformation.This phenomenon has attracted growing attention from scholars.Although prior studies have provided important theoretical foundations for understanding peer effects in digital transformation,existing research has primarily focused on the peer effects themselves,while paying limited attention to their triggering drivers,internal mechanisms,and economic consequences.This limitation constrains a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of peer effects in digital transformation. Drawing on performance feedback theory,this study examines the impact of performance aspiration gaps on peer effects in digital transformation using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2022.Specifically,we investigate whether firms experiencing performance aspiration gaps are more likely to engage in peer-influenced digital transformation and explore the underlying micro-level mechanisms through which this effect operates.Furthermore,we examine the moderating roles of environmental uncertainty,government attention to digitalization,and ownership nature,and analyze the multidimensional economic consequences associated with peer effects in digital transformation. The empirical results indicate that performance aspiration gaps significantly promote the formation of peer effects in digital transformation.Mechanism analyses further reveal that firms facing performance aspiration gaps realize peer behavior in digital transformation by joining strategic alliances.The heterogeneity analyses show that the positive effect of performance aspiration gaps on peer effects in digital transformation is more pronounced when environmental uncertainty is high,government attention to digital development is relatively low,and firms are privately owned.Further analyses reveal that peer effects in digital transformation exert asymmetric influences on operating costs and firm market value.On the one hand,they increase firms' operating costs;on the other hand,they significantly enhance firm market value. This study makes three primary contributions.First,from the perspective of performance feedback theory,it develops an integrated analytical framework linking the drivers,mechanisms,and consequences of peer effects in digital transformation,thereby addressing the lack of research on the triggering mechanisms of peer effects in digital transformation and providing a novel explanation for the emergence of peer effects in digital transformation.Second,by introducing strategic alliances as an interorganizational mechanism,this study illustrates how performance aspiration gaps originating from firms' internal cognition are transmitted to the collective level and eventually shape peer effects in digital transformation,thereby addressing the limited mechanistic explanations offered in prior research on the formation process of peer effects.Third,through a systematic examination of heterogeneous contexts and economic consequences,this study extends the boundary conditions and dynamically applicable contexts in which performance aspiration gaps influence peer effects in digital transformation and reveals the asymmetric impacts of such peer effects on operating costs and market value,with inconsistent directions and magnitudes.In doing so,it complements and extends the prevailing literature that predominantly emphasizes the positive economic impacts of peer effects in digital transformation and deepens our understanding of their broader performance implications. Overall,this study proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework for explaining peer effects in digital transformation from the perspective of performance aspiration gaps,providing richer theoretical foundations for firms' digital transformation decisions and strategic upgrading.