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Companies that combine data assets and AI expand abroad: stronger digital–intelligent integration raises overseas sales, partly via greener innovation, and stable investors tend to amplify the effect.

Digital–Intelligent Synergy Empowers Chinese Firms’ Internationalization: A Dual Perspective Based on Green Innovation and Stable Investment
Jinsong Zhang, Yu Zhang · January 07, 2026 · Sustainability
openalex correlational low evidence 7/10 relevance Summary only summary available; pdf_status=paywall DOI Source PDF

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Firm-level digital–intelligent synergy (data assets, AI capability, and coordination) is positively associated with higher overseas revenue, with green technology innovation mediating the link and investor stability amplifying many of these effects.

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Amid the rapid growth of the digital economy and increasing global competition, the role of digital–intelligent technologies in enabling corporate internationalization has gained significant attention. From the perspective of “digital–intelligent synergy,” this study constructs a mediated moderation model to explore the impact mechanism of digital–intelligent synergy on corporate internationalization. The findings indicate that data assets, artificial intelligence, and digital–intelligent coupling coordination significantly enhance overseas revenue. Green technology innovation mediates this relationship, while investor stability exerts an asymmetrical moderating effect. This strengthens both the direct effect of digital–intelligent synergy on internationalization and its impact on green innovation, though not the path from green innovation to international performance. Further analysis indicates that self-use data assets significantly promote firm internationalization, while transactional data assets do not. Both AI technology and applications markedly enhance overseas expansion. For digital–intelligent coupling coordination, the level of coordination—not merely coupling intensity—positively affects internationalization level. By integrating green innovation and investor behavior perspectives, this study reveals the complex mechanisms through which digital–intelligent synergy empowers internationalization, offering theoretical and policy insights for corporate global expansion in the digital–green transition era.

Summary

Main Finding

Digital–intelligent synergy — captured by firms’ data assets, AI capability, and the coordination between digital and intelligent systems — significantly increases firms’ internationalization (measured by overseas revenue). This effect operates partly through green technology innovation (mediation), and is asymmetrically strengthened by investor stability (moderation). Heterogeneity tests show that self-use data assets (but not transactional data) and both AI technology and AI applications drive the effect; coordination quality (level) matters more than mere coupling intensity.

Key Points

  • Digital–intelligent synergy components (data assets, AI, coupling coordination) positively affect overseas revenue / internationalization.
  • Green technology innovation is a mediator: digital–intelligent synergy promotes green innovation, which in turn supports international expansion.
  • Investor stability is an asymmetric moderator: it amplifies the direct effect of digital–intelligent synergy on internationalization and strengthens the impact of synergy on green innovation, but does not amplify the green-innovation → internationalization path.
  • Data-type heterogeneity: self-use data assets significantly promote internationalization; transactional data assets do not show the same effect.
  • AI heterogeneity: both AI core technologies and AI applications significantly facilitate overseas expansion.
  • Coupling nuance: higher coordination level between digital and intelligent systems (not only coupling intensity) is positively associated with internationalization outcomes.

Data & Methods

  • Conceptual model: mediated moderation — digital–intelligent synergy → green technology innovation (mediator) → internationalization, with investor stability as a moderator on key paths.
  • Key variables:
    • Independent: data assets (disaggregated into self-use vs transactional), AI capability (technology and applications), digital–intelligent coupling coordination (level and intensity).
    • Mediator: green technology innovation.
    • Moderator: investor stability (measure of investor behavior/structure).
    • Outcome: firm internationalization (overseas revenue / international expansion level).
  • Empirical approach: regression-based mediated-moderation modeling to estimate direct, indirect (mediated), and moderated effects; heterogeneity analyses comparing subtypes (data type, AI type, coupling measures).
  • Robustness: additional analyses confirm differential roles of data types, AI components, and coordination metrics (details inferred by the study's further analysis).

Implications for AI Economics

  • Theory and firm strategy:
    • AI alone is insufficient — the economic value for internationalization depends on complementary data assets (especially self-use data) and effective integration (coordination) between digital and AI systems.
    • Green innovation is an important channel linking digital–intelligent capabilities to global market success, highlighting the combined digital–green value chain.
    • Investor composition matters: stable, long-term investors can strengthen firms’ ability to leverage digital–intelligent assets and pursue green innovation that supports international growth.
  • Policy and regulation:
    • Policies should encourage firms to build and govern self-use data assets (privacy-respecting internal data infrastructures) and to invest in both AI technology and applied systems.
    • Support for digital–green innovation (R&D subsidies, technology transfer, standards) can magnify the international competitiveness gains from AI and data capabilities.
    • Regulatory efforts to stabilize investor horizons (e.g., incentives for long-term investment) could enhance firms’ ability to translate digital–intelligent investments into international expansion.
  • Directions for research in AI economics:
    • Identify causal mechanisms more tightly (natural experiments, IVs, panel identification) to address endogeneity between digital investments and internationalization.
    • Explore cross-country and industry heterogeneity in digital–intelligent synergy effects, and the role of institutional environments (data governance regimes, capital market structure).
    • Investigate micro-level channels (e.g., changes in production, marketing, supply chains) through which green innovation and investor behavior interact with AI adoption to affect firm boundary decisions and foreign market entry.

Assessment

Paper Typecorrelational Evidence Strengthlow — Findings are based on observational correlations and mediation analysis without a clearly exogenous source of variation or quasi-experimental design; therefore results are vulnerable to omitted-variable bias, reverse causality (internationalization may drive digital/AI investments and green innovation), measurement error in constructed indices (data assets, coupling), and selection effects among firms. Methods Rigormedium — The paper appears to use a reasonably sophisticated set of empirical tools (differentiating types of data assets, decomposing AI into technology vs applications, coupling coordination indices, mediation and moderated-mediation models, and heterogeneity checks), indicating careful empirical work; however, rigor is limited by lack of credible identification strategy (no IV, diff-in-diff, or natural experiment reported) and potential measurement and endogeneity concerns. SampleFirm-level data on corporate digital and AI capabilities, data-asset measures (distinguishing self-use vs transactional), AI technology and application indicators, a coupling/co-ordination index for digital–intelligent integration, green technology innovation (likely green patents or R&D outcomes), investor stability metrics, and overseas revenue as the internationalization outcome; sample likely comprises publicly listed firms observed over multiple years (details on country, time span, sectors, and sample size not specified). Themesinnovation adoption IdentificationObservational firm-level regression analysis using mediated moderation (mediation: green technology innovation; moderation: investor stability) and interaction terms; likely controls and robustness checks for firm and time factors but no exogenous source of variation or causal instrument reported, so identification rests on conditional independence/selection-on-observables assumptions and standard mediation assumptions. GeneralizabilityLikely limited to listed firms (omits SMEs and privately held firms), Possible country- or region-specific context (policy and market structure may not generalize internationally), Sectors with advanced digital/AI use may be overrepresented (technology bias), Findings for internationalization (overseas revenue) may not translate to other economic outcomes such as employment or productivity, Time-period specific effects if based on recent digital/green transition years

Claims (10)

ClaimDirectionOutcomeConfidence & EvidenceDetails
Data assets, artificial intelligence, and digital–intelligent coupling coordination significantly enhance overseas revenue. Firm Revenue positive overseas revenue
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Green technology innovation mediates the relationship between digital–intelligent synergy and corporate internationalization (overseas revenue). Firm Revenue positive mediating effect of green technology innovation on overseas revenue
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Investor stability asymmetrically moderates effects: it strengthens the direct effect of digital–intelligent synergy on internationalization. Firm Revenue positive overseas revenue (internationalization)
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Investor stability strengthens the impact of digital–intelligent synergy on green technology innovation. Innovation Output positive green technology innovation
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Investor stability does not strengthen the path from green innovation to international performance (i.e., no moderating effect on green innovation → internationalization). Firm Revenue null_result effect of green technology innovation on overseas revenue under varying investor stability
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Self-use data assets significantly promote firm internationalization. Firm Revenue positive overseas revenue / internationalization
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Transactional data assets do not significantly promote firm internationalization. Firm Revenue null_result overseas revenue / internationalization
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
Both AI technology and AI applications markedly enhance overseas expansion (internationalization). Firm Revenue positive overseas revenue / international expansion
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
For digital–intelligent coupling coordination, the level of coordination — not merely coupling intensity — positively affects the level of internationalization. Firm Revenue positive internationalization level / overseas revenue
Reading fidelity high
Study strength medium
not reported
0.3
The study constructs a mediated moderation model from the perspective of 'digital–intelligent synergy' to explore mechanisms by which digital–intelligent synergy affects corporate internationalization. Other positive n/a (methodological claim about model construction)
Reading fidelity high
Study strength high
not reported
0.5

Notes