How Entrepreneurship Drives Digital Transformation: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on the Attention-Based View

Abstract

As a key component of sustainable economic development, digital transformation has become a fundamental driver for developing and upgrading the modern economic system. While existing research has identified resources and dynamic capabilities as foundational elements, a critical yet underexplored factor lies in the cognitive foundations that enable firms to strategically direct and leverage these assets. Based on 19,062 observation samples of more than 3000 listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2010 to 2023, this paper constructs a theoretical framework of entrepreneurship, organizational attention and digital transformation from the Attention-Based View, and examines a moderated mediation model of the relationship between entrepreneurship and digital transformation. The results show that entrepreneurship significantly promotes digital transformation; organizational attention to “cooperation orientation” and “future orientation” plays a mediating role in it; and the regional innovation atmosphere positively strengthens the “cooperation orientation” path, facilitating the diffusion of innovative knowledge and technologies within the region. Meanwhile, online media reports negatively regulate the “future orientation” path, reflecting that short-term public pressure may weaken enterprises’ attention to long-term sustainable technology investment. In addition, different dimensions of entrepreneurship have varied effects on digital transformation. Heterogeneity analysis revealed significant variations across ownership type, scale, region, industry competition intensity, and technological intensity. This study expands the theoretical mechanism of entrepreneurship and digital transformation from the perspective of attention allocation, and provides theoretical and empirical foundation for fostering a strategic cognitive orientation and advancing digital transformation.