Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure

As the aging population problem intensifies, many emerging economies are caught in labor shortage and rising labor costs, thus improving the corporate labor investment efficiency (LIE) is crucial for these countries. In this context, we take China as an example to explore the influence of the curren...

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Main Authors: Jing Yang, Yalin Jiang, Hongan Chen, Shengdao Gan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.962806/full
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author Jing Yang
Yalin Jiang
Hongan Chen
Shengdao Gan
author_facet Jing Yang
Yalin Jiang
Hongan Chen
Shengdao Gan
author_sort Jing Yang
collection DOAJ
description As the aging population problem intensifies, many emerging economies are caught in labor shortage and rising labor costs, thus improving the corporate labor investment efficiency (LIE) is crucial for these countries. In this context, we take China as an example to explore the influence of the current booming digital finance (DF) on corporate LIE. This paper, which enriches the existing literature, is one of the few studies that explores the link between macroeconomic policies and firms’ LIE. Our research adopts the baseline methodology of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and the data comprise 23,503 observations for Chinese A-share listed businesses from 2011 to 2020. In addition, we use fixed effects regression, instrumental variables method and substitution of independent variables to deal with endogeneity and test the robustness. The outcomes suggest that DF may significantly increase corporate LIE. Further results from the path mechanism study suggest that DF could alleviate financing constraints and optimize human capital structure, both of which have a favorable effect on the LIE. Last but not least, the heterogeneity results imply that DF can more effectively encourage LIE of firms in economically underdeveloped regions and of private nature. The study recommends that emerging economies should pay attention to strengthening regulation to avoid financial risks while vigorously promoting DF. In addition, enhancing the level of human capital and optimizing human capital allocation are also essential.
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spelling doaj.art-1969875ef40a414e975267f98e7c8af12022-12-22T02:52:13ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-08-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.962806962806Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structureJing Yang0Yalin Jiang1Hongan Chen2Shengdao Gan3School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Social Audit, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Business, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Business, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaAs the aging population problem intensifies, many emerging economies are caught in labor shortage and rising labor costs, thus improving the corporate labor investment efficiency (LIE) is crucial for these countries. In this context, we take China as an example to explore the influence of the current booming digital finance (DF) on corporate LIE. This paper, which enriches the existing literature, is one of the few studies that explores the link between macroeconomic policies and firms’ LIE. Our research adopts the baseline methodology of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and the data comprise 23,503 observations for Chinese A-share listed businesses from 2011 to 2020. In addition, we use fixed effects regression, instrumental variables method and substitution of independent variables to deal with endogeneity and test the robustness. The outcomes suggest that DF may significantly increase corporate LIE. Further results from the path mechanism study suggest that DF could alleviate financing constraints and optimize human capital structure, both of which have a favorable effect on the LIE. Last but not least, the heterogeneity results imply that DF can more effectively encourage LIE of firms in economically underdeveloped regions and of private nature. The study recommends that emerging economies should pay attention to strengthening regulation to avoid financial risks while vigorously promoting DF. In addition, enhancing the level of human capital and optimizing human capital allocation are also essential.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.962806/fulldigital financelabor investment efficiencyfinancing constraintshuman capital structureinstrumental variable
spellingShingle Jing Yang
Yalin Jiang
Hongan Chen
Shengdao Gan
Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
Frontiers in Psychology
digital finance
labor investment efficiency
financing constraints
human capital structure
instrumental variable
title Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
title_full Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
title_fullStr Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
title_full_unstemmed Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
title_short Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
title_sort digital finance and chinese corporate labor investment efficiency the perspective of financing constraints and human capital structure
topic digital finance
labor investment efficiency
financing constraints
human capital structure
instrumental variable
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.962806/full
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AT honganchen digitalfinanceandchinesecorporatelaborinvestmentefficiencytheperspectiveoffinancingconstraintsandhumancapitalstructure
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