The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Value Creation Efficiency of Sports Enterprises: evidence from China’s A-Share Listed Companies

Using China’s A-share listed sports enterprises from 2011 to 2024, this paper constructs measures of AI technology and AI application through textual analysis of annual reports and examines their effects on value creation efficiency. The results show that both AI technology and AI application significantly enhance firms’ value creation efficiency. Mechanism analysis indicates that AI promotes substantive innovation and human capital upgrading, while AI application has a stronger effect on strategic innovation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that AI has a stronger positive effect in sports manufacturing firms. AI technology plays a more prominent role in state-owned enterprises and firms with low absorptive capacity, whereas AI application has a stronger marginal effect in non-state-owned enterprises and firms with stronger human capital foundations. These findings provide firm-level evidence on how AI reshapes value creation in the sports industry.