In the era of digital economy, enterprises’ compliance with social insurance contributions has become a critical issue affecting the sustainable development of the social security system. Existing literature has mainly examined the causes of enterprises’ low compliance with social insurance contributions and its corresponding strategies from the perspectives of regulatory constraints, collection and management systems, and enterprise behaviors. Nevertheless, in the face of the dual reality of tax and fee reduction policies and stricter collection practices, the traditional interpretive framework still finds it difficult to effectively resolve the dilemma of the continuous decline in enterprises’ social insurance payment compliance. In this context, exploring how digital transformation can optimize enterprises’ social insurance payment behavior through organizational change and efficiency improvement carries important practical significance for constructing harmonious labor relations and enhancing the financial stability of the social security funds. This study employs a sample of non-financial listed companies from 2007 to 2023, integrates city-level data, and uses a fixed-effects model to systematically examine the impact of digital transformation on enterprise social insurance payment compliance and its underlying mechanisms. The findings are as follows: First, digital transformation significantly enhances enterprises’ social insurance contribution compliance, this conclusion remains robust after rigorous tests, including variable replacement, elimination of policy interference, and endogeneity treatment. Second, mechanism analysis reveals that digital transformation promotes social insurance payment compliance by optimizing the labor force structure, improving employee wage levels, enhancing organizational operational efficiency, and increasing information transparency. However, the inherent substitution effect of digital transformation may trigger structural unemployment among low-skilled groups and elevate social governance costs. Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the enhancement effect of digital transformation on enterprises’ social insurance payment compliance is more pronounced in enterprises with large scale, private ownership, high tax burden, high social security payment burden, non-high-tech industries, and areas under the administration of social security departments. The contributions of this paper are mainly reflected in three aspects First, based on the trend of the booming digital economy and the realistic challenge of imbalanced social security fund revenues and expenditures, it systematically investigates the impact of digital transformation on enterprise social insurance payment compliance. Through theoretical analysis and empirical testing, this paper provides solutions to the realistic dilemma that enterprise social insurance payment compliance has declined instead of rising in recent years. Second, it preliminarily explains the mechanism through which enterprise digital transformation impacts social security payment compliance, forming a logical paradigm whereby enterprises open the mechanism “black box” of digital transformation and enterprise social insurance payment compliance through transforming labor force attributes, efficiency attributes, and information attributes, and validates its scientific rationality. Third, it enriches the related research in the interdisciplinary field of “corporate governance and labor security”. Meanwhile, it constructs an analytical framework of “technology-organization-system,” and further expands the research boundary of the socio-economic effects of digital technology. It not only reveals the dynamic process of transforming digital technology into governance effectiveness, but also provides a new theoretical basis for analyzing the co-evolution of enterprise behavior and public policy. In the context of digital empowerment for enterprise development, the findings of this study highlight the pivotal role of digital transformation in reshaping the labor force structure, production efficiency, and information transparency of enterprises. Through systematic analysis of the intrinsic logic of digital transformation on enterprise social insurance payment compliance, this paper provides theoretical support and practical insights for China to boost social security fund revenues and explore the reform and optimization of the social insurance system, making important contributions to forming a fair, efficient, and sustainable institutional environment and constructing a mechanism for the coordinated evolution of high-quality enterprise development and the social security system.
JINGP. Social insurance contributions and firm leverage: can cost reduction help de-leverage?[J].Chinese Social Security Review,2024,8(1):74-87.
[3]
LIUG C, LIUY Y, ZHANGC S, et al. Social insurance law and corporate financing decisions in China[J].Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization,2021,190:816-837.
[4]
NIELSENI, SMYTHR. Who bears the burden of employer compliance with social security contributions? Evidence from Chinese firm level data[J].China Economic Review,2008,19(2):230-244.
XUH M, LIC T. Social security premiums collection and corporate tax avoidance: evidence from the enforcement of the Social Insurance Law[J].Economic Research Journal,2020,55(6):122-137.
CAIW X, LIB C. Tax enforcement, tax pressure and corporate social security contribution compliance[J].The Journal of World Economy,2021,44(12):201-224.
LYU W, RENX Y, WANGW T. Social security levies collection authority ownership, information sharing, and response efficiency[J].Journal of Finance and Economics,2023,49(5):94-108.
WANGR Q, LUY, LIUY P. How does fiscal decentralization exacerbate the imbalance of pension insurance funds? An analysis based on the perspective of revenue and expenditure[J].Insurance Studies,2021,42(2):113-127.
LIUD S, LIG H. The impact of social security contributions activism of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises on innovation: effect test based on the PSM-DID[J].Reform,2022,35(12):136-150.
[17]
LIF. Leading digital transformation: three emerging approaches for managing the transition[J].International Journal of Operations & Production Management,2020,40(6):809-817.
ZHOUQ W, LIUX, LID H. Multi-level influences of organization digital transformation and an open integrated research framework[J].Journal of Xi’an Jiaotong University(Social Sciences),2022,42(3):10-19.
FANGM Y, LINJ N, NIEH H. Does digital transformation promote common prosperity within firms? Evidence from Chinese A-share listed firms[J].Journal of Quantitative & Technological Economics,2022,39(11):50-70.
HEM, WANGY M. How does the digital transformation of manufacturing firms affect employees’ wage?[J].Finance & Trade Economics,2023,44(4):123-139.
[24]
DOUB, GUOS L, CHANGX C, et al. Corporate digital transformation and labor structure upgrading[J].International Review of Financial Analysis,2023,90:102904.
PEIX, LIUY, WANGW H. Digital transformation of enterprises: driving factors, economic effects and strategic choices[J].Reform,2023,36(5):124-137.
[27]
BRYNJOLFSSONE, ROCKD, SYVERSONC. The productivity J-curve: how intangibles complement general purpose technologies[J].American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics,2021,13(1):333-372.
WUF, HUH Z, LINH Y, et al. Enterprise digital transformation and capital market performance: empirical evidence from stock liquidity[J].Journal of Management World,2021,37(7):130-144.
LIUG C, YEY W, ZHANGJ. Social security contributions, liquidity constraint and employment stabilization: a quasi-natural experiment from the enactment of Social Insurance Law[J].China Industrial Economics,2021,39(5):152-169.
LUJ F, ZHANGL, GUOZ Y. Centralizing of public pension fund and fund collection imbalance of local governments: an analysis based on the perspective of central-local interaction[J].Journal of Public Management,2023,20(2):103-115.
SHIY T, WANGX D. Research on the impact of enterprise digital transformation on labor employment: based on the dual perspective of employment scale and employment structure[J].Economist,2023,35(10):109-118.
[44]
FANJ P H, WONGT J, ZHANGT. Institutions and organizational structure: the case of state-owned corporate pyramids[J].The Journal of Law, Economics & Organization,2013,29(6):1217-1252.
WANGY H, GUOY Z. Firm digital transformation and ESG performance: evidence from China’s A-share listed firms[J].Journal of Finance and Economics,2023,49(9):94-108.
MAP F, WEIZ H. How do enterprise digital transformation impact on cash dividend policies: “information path” or “capital path”[J].Nankai Business Review,2024,27(3):50-62.
MAW J, ZHANGH Z, CHENJ. Impact of digital transformation of enterprises on their choice of green innovation models[J].Science Research Management,2023,44(12):61-70.
[51]
张树山,谷城. 企业数字化转型与供应链韧性[J].南方经济,2024,42(8):137-158.
[52]
ZHANGS S, GUC. Enterprise digital transformation and supply chain resilience[J].South China Journal of Economics,2024,42(8):137-158.
[53]
GULF A, KIMJ B, QIUA A. Ownership concentration, foreign shareholding, audit quality, and stock price synchronicity: evidence from China[J].Journal of Financial Economics,2010,95(3): 425-442.