Transmission of green pressure: customer digitisation and supplier green innovation from the perspective of supply chain spillover

Understanding the green enabling role of digitalisation in supply chains holds important theoretical and practical significance for promoting corporate green transformation. Using data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning 2010–2023, this study examines the impact of customer digitalisation on supplier green innovation. The results show that customer digitalisation significantly improves both the quantity and quality of supplier green innovation, and this spillover effect is asymmetric. Mechanism analyses reveal that this effect operates through three pathways – psychological empowerment, structural empowerment, and resource empowerment. Heterogeneity analyses show that the effect is more pronounced when customer and supplier firms share the same ownership type or operate in industries with similar pollution characteristics, while heterogeneity in customers’ own digitalisation levels does not significantly affect the transmission. In addition, customer digitalisation drives supplier green innovation primarily through increased factor inputs rather than efficiency improvements. Further analyses indicate that customer digitalisation significantly stimulates suppliers’ independent innovation, but its effect on collaborative innovation is insignificant. By uncovering the underlying mechanisms, boundary conditions, and organisational modes through which digitalisation fosters green innovation, this study extends the literature on supply chain digitalisation and green innovation governance.