Does digitalization always benefit cultural, sports, and tourism enterprises quality? Unveiling the inverted U-shaped relationship from a resource and capability perspective

The integration of culture, sports, and tourism is a significant driver of economic growth, but its development faces challenges such as insufficient technology, low quality, and limited product diversity. Digitalization offers a potential solution by enhancing product planning, stimulating consumption, and improving resilience. However, cultural, sports, and tourism enterprises differ from technology-rich sectors, presenting unique challenges in digitalization due to their labor-intensive nature and limited focus on technology R&D. Existing research primarily focuses on the positive effects of digitalization, while overlooking potential negative consequences. This study addresses these gaps by exploring the following research questions: 1) What constitutes high-quality development in these integrated enterprises? 2) How can digitalization be effectively assessed in this context? 3) What is the relationship between digitalization and high-quality development, considering resources and capabilities?

The literature review examines existing research on high-quality enterprise development, focusing on evaluation methods (e.g., total factor productivity), and research scales (mostly industry-level). It highlights the lack of studies on the high-quality development of cultural, sports, and tourism enterprises, particularly within an integrated framework. Existing research on digitalization in these sectors primarily employs qualitative methods and lacks a robust evaluation system for enterprise-level digitalization. The review also identifies inconsistencies in understanding the impact of digitalization, with some studies focusing only on positive effects while ignoring potential negative consequences like employee turnover and technological overload. This study aims to address these gaps by employing an empirical approach focusing on enterprise-level data, incorporating social network analysis for measuring integration, and developing a comprehensive digitalization index using TF-IDF analysis of annual reports.

The study analyzes data from 116 listed Chinese A-share cultural, sports, and tourism companies (2010-2020). A high-quality development index is constructed using six sub-objectives: high-quality efficiency growth, innovation development, green development, integration development, open cooperation, and social sharing. The weights for each sub-objective are calculated using the entropy value method. Digitalization is measured using a novel approach that creates a lexicon of digitized features spanning strategic, technical, and application layers. The TF-IDF algorithm is applied to the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) sections of annual reports to derive a digitalization index for each firm. Control variables (capital employed, management expense ratio, Tobin's Q, book-to-market ratio, dual employment, loss, inventory share, and years of listing) are included in the regression models. Human capital (proportion of employees with a bachelor's degree or higher) and enterprise innovation (R&D investment intensity) are examined as mediating variables. Regression analysis, including instrumental variable techniques to address endogeneity concerns, is employed to test the hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between digitalization and high-quality development. Heterogeneity analysis explores regional variations (eastern, central, western), life cycle stage (growth, maturity, decline), and risk-taking levels.

The empirical analysis reveals a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between digitalization and high-quality development (H1 supported). Moderate levels of digitalization positively impact high-quality development, while excessive digitalization leads to a decline. The majority of enterprises fall within the moderate range of digitalization. Both human capital (H2a & H2b supported) and enterprise innovation (H3a & H3b supported) mediate the relationship between digitalization and high-quality development. The mediating effect of human capital is particularly pronounced, where moderate digitalization improves human capital quality, leading to higher quality development. The mediating role of enterprise innovation also aligns with an inverted U-shaped pattern; moderate levels are beneficial, while excessive digitalization negatively impacts innovation, which in turn diminishes high-quality development. Heterogeneity analysis reveals significant regional differences, with the eastern and central regions showing stronger inverted U-shaped relationships compared to the western region. Furthermore, companies in the growth and maturity stages show an inverted U-shaped relationship, while declining companies experience only a positive effect of digitalization. High risk-taking firms show a positive association between digitization and quality development, unlike low risk-taking firms.

The findings highlight the importance of finding the optimal level of digitalization for cultural, sports, and tourism enterprises. Simply pursuing excessive digitalization without considering potential negative consequences is not effective. The mediating roles of human capital and enterprise innovation emphasize the need for strategic investment in these areas to maximize the benefits of digitalization. The regional variations suggest that targeted policies are needed to address the digital divide and promote balanced development. The lifecycle implications highlight the need for tailored digital strategies based on the firm's stage of development. The differing impacts on high and low risk-taking firms emphasize the need for a nuanced approach to risk management in the context of digitalization.

This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating the inverted U-shaped relationship between digitalization and high-quality development in cultural, sports, and tourism enterprises. The identification of mediating factors (human capital and enterprise innovation) and the exploration of heterogeneity provide valuable insights for policymakers and managers. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to better understand the dynamic effects of digitalization and further investigate the negative consequences of excessive digitalization. It's also critical to understand how to mitigate the negative impacts on cultural diversity and user trust while maximizing the benefits of digitization.

The study's reliance on textual data from annual reports may introduce some bias due to potential strategic disclosure practices by firms. The sample is limited to listed Chinese companies, potentially limiting the generalizability of the findings to other contexts. Further research could explore a wider range of mediating variables and incorporate additional control variables to enhance the robustness of the findings.