In the current economic landscape, particularly in China, the development of new quality productive forces (NQPF) has emerged as a strategic approach for driving innovation and advancing sustainable productivity. Using a panel dataset of Chinese A-share listed firms spanning 2011 to 2023, this study empirically examines the influence of digital technology (DT) on the evolution of NQPF and explores its underlying transmission mechanisms and heterogeneity among different enterprises. The findings demonstrate that DT significantly contributes to the advancement of NQPF, a result that remains consistent under extensive robustness and endogeneity checks. Mechanism testing reveals that green technological innovation and enhanced managerial efficiency serve as critical mediating channels through which DT exerts its impact. Furthermore, the moderating role of market competition intensity is found to meaningfully shape this relationship. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that DT’s positive influence on NQPF is particularly strong among state-owned, low-pollution, and high-tech enterprises, as well as firms located in eastern regions and operating in technology-intensive industries. This research enriches the theoretical discourse on the digital economy and productivity transformation by providing enterprise-level empirical evidence to guide digital strategy formulation and policy design.
Tu et al. (2026) studied this question.