Digital transformation is a key driver of the Digital China initiative, while supply chain finance represents a significant innovation in financial services. However, the relationship between supply chain finance and enterprise digital transformation remains underexplored. Based on a sample of 20,165 firm-year observations from Chinese A-share non-financial listed firms over the period 2012–2024, this study investigates the impact of supply chain finance on enterprise digital transformation and its underlying mechanisms using a two-way fixed effects panel regression model with instrumental variable estimation. The results show that supply chain finance significantly enhances enterprise digital transformation, and the finding remains robust to alternative variable measurements and endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that supply chain finance facilitates digital transformation through three channels: profit enhancement, cost improvement, and risk smoothing. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive effect of supply chain finance varies with regional characteristics and digital technology endowments. By constructing a novel firm-level SCF indicator and identifying three distinct transmission channels, this study provides micro-level evidence on how supply chain finance serves the real economy and accelerates enterprise digital transformation.
Zeng et al. (2026) studied this question.