Government Attention, Online Public Opinion, and Enterprise Digital Transformation: An Analysis Through the Signal of Narrative Text

Enterprise digital transformation (EDT) faces challenges of organizational resistance and weak willingness. While previous studies have examined the driving effect of signals from senior management, crucial research gaps remain concerning in multisource external signals, synergistic signaling mechanisms, and signal measurement techniques. To address these gaps, this empirical study employs textual analysis to examine the impact of narrative signals from government annual work reports and online public opinions (OPO) on EDT of Chinese A-share listed companies between 2012 and 2023. Our results indicate that the government’s consistent signals on EDT significantly stimulate corporate transformation, and this stimulation exhibits delayed and nonlinear effects. This relationship is mediated by the EDT discussion frequency signal on social media. However, an overly optimistic sentiment in OPO weakens its influence. Further analysis reveals variations in these effects across signal content, readability, stakeholders involved, and firm heterogeneity. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how macrolevel narrative signals connect to microlevel corporate decision-making behaviors, offering insights into facilitating high-quality EDT. Our results emphasize the importance of aligning policy signals and public discourse to support effective EDT strategies.