Intelligent Transformation, Green Technological Innovation, and Total Factor Productivity: Empirical Evidence from Photovoltaic Enterprises

Against the backdrop of the accelerating integration of the digital economy and the real economy, together with the continuous advancement of the “dual carbon” goals, exploring how intelligent transformation promotes corporate green upgrading and productivity improvement has become a crucial issue for achieving high-quality economic development. As a strategic emerging industry supporting the green and low-carbon transition, the photovoltaic (PV) sector is characterized by high technological intensity, substantial capital investment, and a strong environmental orientation. These distinctive features make it an ideal empirical context for examining the economic consequences of intelligent transformation. Based on panel data of Chinese A-share listed photovoltaic enterprises from 2011 to 2024, this study constructs a comprehensive measurement system for intelligent transformation from two dimensions: intelligent investment and intelligent technology application. Specifically, the measurement incorporates firms' tangible investment in intelligent software and hardware assets, and further extracts detailed indicators of intelligent technology adoption through precise keyword identification and in-depth semantic analysis of annual reports. The entropy method is employed to synthesize these indicators into a composite index of intelligent transformation. Meanwhile, firm-level total factor productivity (TFP) is estimated using the Levinsohn-Petrin (LP) method, which effectively mitigates endogeneity concerns arising from simultaneity bias and measurement errors. On this basis, two-way fixed effect models, instrumental variable approaches, and mechanism analysis models are applied to systematically examine the impact of intelligent transformation on the TFP of photovoltaic enterprises. The empirical results demonstrate that intelligent transformation significantly enhances the total factor productivity of PV firms. Mechanism analysis reveals that green technological innovation plays both mediating and moderating roles in the relationship between intelligent transformation and TFP. On the one hand, intelligent transformation promotes green R&D activities and accelerates the application of environmentally friendly technologies, thereby indirectly improving productivity through green innovation. On the other hand, higher levels of green technological innovation strengthen the positive effect of intelligent transformation on productivity, suggesting that the synergistic development of “intelligence + greenness” constitutes a key pathway for achieving efficiency upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis further indicates that the productivity-enhancing effect of intelligent transformation varies across different contexts. From the perspective of ownership structure, the positive effect is more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises than state-owned enterprises. From the viewpoint of value chain segmentation, firms located in the midstream segment experience greater productivity gains from intelligent transformation compared with upstream and downstream firms. In terms of policy environment, the positive impact of intelligent transformation on TFP is stronger before the phase-out of government subsidies than afterward. Overall, this study uncovers the dual mechanism of green technological innovation in the process of intelligent transformation and extends the theoretical boundaries of research on the integration of digitalization and green development. The findings provide differentiated empirical evidence for policy formulation and enterprise practice across ownership types, value chain positions, and policy cycles.