The impact of digital finance on corporate labor productivity: evidence from Chinese-listed companies

This paper investigates how digital finance affects the labor productivity of companies, as well as the intermediate mechanisms and heterogeneity of this relationship. The results show that the rapid growth of digital finance increases the labor productivity of firms, and this conclusion holds even after a series of robustness tests and endogenous treatment. The main impact mechanisms are optimizing the capital-labor ratio, increasing R & D investment, and rising free cash flow. The results also suggest that better internal human capital structure and higher firm wages are more conducive to boosting labor productivity under the influence of digital finance, however, differences in regional development and firm nature significantly weaken the effect of digital finance on increasing labor productivity. We provide effective digital finance and management strategies for firms from the labor productivity perspective.