Regional Integration, Creative Society and Digital Transformation of Enterprises —Empirical Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta

Abstract

As a critical pathway to achieving high-quality enterprise development, digital transformation faces multiple constraints, including insufficient technological reserves, outdated equipment, and talent shortages. The Yangtze River Delta regional integration strategy effectively mitigates market fragmentation and facilitates knowledge spillover and technology diffusion, with collaborative digital development being a key component of its integration agenda. However, existing literature lacks systematic exploration of the intrinsic relationship between regional integration and corporate digital transformation, particularly in terms of theoretical analysis of their underlying mechanisms and transmission pathways.

This study employs policy text quantification methods to construct a Yangtze River Delta integration index and utilizes natural language processing techniques to develop corporate digital transformation indicators. Within the analytical framework of creative society theory, this study systematically investigates the impact of regional integration on enterprise digital transformation and its underlying mechanisms. Empirical findings reveal that regional integration significantly promotes digital transformation. The regional integration exhibits both intra-provincial and inter-provincial spillover effects, with the former being more pronounced. Mechanism analysis indicates that regional integration facilitates digital transformation by interacting with innovation factor mobility, infrastructure optimization, and economic policy uncertainty perception. Further research reveals heterogeneous effects of Yangtze River Delta integration across different enterprises. The impact is more pronounced for enterprises located in core cities, high-knowledge-spillover cities, lower marketization level cities and non-state-owned enterprises, small-scale enterprises, high-tech industry enterprises. These differential effects are intrinsically linked to the first-mover and late-mover advantages possessed by different enterprises.

Compared to prior studies, this paper contributes in three key aspects: First, methodologically, it quantifies regional integration using national, provincial, and municipal policy texts as core explanatory variable data sources, offering an alternative to conventional proxies such as composite indices or product market segmentation measures, thereby expanding regional integration research methodology. Second, theoretically, it adopts Lars Tvede’s creative society framework, structured around “individual units, shared memory, effective networks, change drivers, and competition” to elucidate the mechanism linking regional integration and digital transformation. Third, in heterogeneity analysis, it examines differential policy effects across firm attributes and environmental factors, analyzing these differences from the perspective of first-mover and late-mover advantages, thereby providing policy insights for fostering digital convergence through regional integration policies.

This study illuminates the intrinsic logic of how regional integration influences corporate digital transformation, helping government departments formulate targeted policies to facilitate digital transformation while guiding firms in strategic decision-making amid opportunities and challenges. It also aids enterprises in implementing digital transformation, refining production processes, and enhancing operational workflows to improve digital transformation performance.