摘要：数字经济时代，人工智能技术对企业可持续发展产生了重大影响，其最终效能与路径机制有待厘清。本文以我国2010—2023年沪深A股上市公司数据作为研究样本，考察了企业人工智能应用程度如何影响企业ESG表现。研究表明，企业人工智能应用程度与企业ESG表现呈现正相关关系，且这一结论在一系列稳健性检验和内生性检验之后仍然成立。机制检验表明，企业应用人工智能技术可以通过提升创新能力、吸收能力来提升其ESG表现。异质性分析表明，企业人工智能应用对非中心城市企业、东中部地区企业、制造业企业、高污染行业企业、高科技行业企业的ESG表现提升效应更为突出，同时，其提升企业ESG表现存在维度差异。本文从人工智能应用程度视角，为企业在人工智能时代提升ESG表现、评估ESG行为提供方法与理论参考。
关键词：ESG表现；人工智能；创新能力；吸收能力
Artificial Intelligence Application and Corporate Sustainable
Development：Testing Based on Innovation Capability and
Absorptive Capacity
Wang Yin, Li Mengqi
Abstract: In the digital economy era, artificial intelligence (AI) technology significantly impacts corporate sustainable development, yet its ultimate effectiveness and underlying mechanisms warrant further investigation. Utilizing data from Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies in China from 2010 to 2023, this study examines the impact of corporate AI application levels on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between corporate AI adoption and ESG performance. This result holds robustly against a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that AI adoption enhances ESG performance by strengthening corporate innovation capabilities and absorptive capacity. Heterogeneity analysis further demonstrates a more pronounced effect for non-central city firms, enterprises in the eastern and central regions, manufacturing firms, high-pollution industries, and high-tech firms. Additionally, the study identifies performance variations across specific ESG dimensions. By investigating AI adoption intensity, this research offers methodological and theoretical insights for enhancing corporate ESG performance and evaluating ESG behaviors in the AI era.
Keywords: ESG Performance; Artificial Intelligence; Innovation Capability; Absorptive Capacity
