企业家精神如何引领中小企业数字化转型？

王丽君　刘 强　徐生霞

（首都经济贸易大学）

内容提要：企业家精神是引领中小企业数字化转型的关键因素，也是实现经济高质量发展的重要驱动力。本文在构建新时代背景下企业家精神综合评价指标的基础上，以沪深A股上市中小企业为研究对象，实证考察2011年以来企业家精神对中小企业数字化转型的影响效应及作用机制。研究结果显示：（1）企业家精神能够有效地引领中小企业数字化转型，分维度来看，创新精神的作用效果尤为明显。（2）企业家精神主要通过减少管理者短视行为、提高内部控制质量、提升风险承担能力、强化企业人才支撑等路径引领中小企业数字化转型。（3）企业家精神对成熟期企业、高初始数字化水平企业及高新技术企业数字化转型的引领作用更明显，在引领中小企业数字化转型进程中更多地表现为“锦上添花”。企业家精神与外部政策的协同配合能够对其他数字化转型困难较大的中小企业“雪中送炭”。（4）企业家精神在引领中小企业数字化转型的过程中有效地助力了中小企业高质量发展，这种助推效应具有长期可持续性且逐渐增强。本文的研究为有效解决中小企业在数字化转型进程中面临的多重困境、推动中小企业高质量发展提供了经验参考。

关键词：企业家精神；数字化转型；中小企业；高质量发展；高新技术企业

作者简介：王丽君，首都经济贸易大学统计学院博士研究生，北京，100070；刘强，首都经济贸易大学统计学院教授、博士生导师，通信作者；徐生霞，首都经济贸易大学统计学院副教授。

基金项目：国家社会科学基金青年项目“区域经济均衡发展赋能共同富裕的理论、测度与提升策略研究”（23CTJ006）

引用格式：王丽君,刘强,徐生霞.企业家精神如何引领中小企业数字化转型?[J].经济与管理研究,2025,46(6):24-43.

How does Entrepreneurship Lead Digital Transformation of SMEs?

WANG Lijun, LIU Qiang, XU Shengxia

(Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070)

Abstract: Entrepreneurship has become a key factor leading the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and an important driving force for achieving high-quality economic development. By constructing a comprehensive evaluation index of entrepreneurship in the new era, this paper empirically examines the effect of entrepreneurship on the digital transformation of SMEs from 2011 to 2021 and its mechanisms, taking Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed SMEs as the research object.

The findings show that entrepreneurship can promote the digital transformation of SMEs. This conclusion still holds after endogeneity treatment and robustness tests. The mechanism tests indicate that entrepreneurship promotes digital transformation by mitigating managerial myopia, improving internal control quality, enhancing risk-taking ability, and strengthening the support for corporate talent. However, it fails to drive the accumulation of corporate technological capital. Further analysis reveals that among entrepreneurial dimensions, the spirit of innovation exerts the strongest influence. Additionally, entrepreneurship can drive digital transformation in mature SMEs, those with higher initial digitization levels, and high-tech enterprises. However, its impact is limited in SMEs in growth or decline stages, enterprises with lower initial digitization levels, and non-high-tech enterprises. Moreover, the synergy between entrepreneurship and external policies can effectively promote the digital transformation of SMEs. Entrepreneurship-driven digital transformation can improve SMEs’ total factor productivity, thus promoting their high-quality development, and this effect persists and gradually increases over time. On this basis, this paper proposes relevant recommendations, including creating an excellent development environment, increasing technological support, and enhancing policy support for transformation.

The possible contributions of this paper are threefold. First, this paper reveals the role of entrepreneurship in leading SMEs’ digital transformation from the dimensions of motivation empowerment, ability empowerment, and technical talent empowerment, expanding the research on the antecedents of enterprises’ digital transformation decision-making. Second, by designing a heterogeneity analysis framework covering life cycle stages, initial digitalization levels, and different industries, this paper systematically investigates whether entrepreneurship provides timely assistance or adds the finishing touch in SMEs’ digital transformation, providing empirical evidence for targeted policy implementation. Third, by clarifying the connotation of entrepreneurship in the new era, this paper designs a comprehensive evaluation index system of entrepreneurship based on the four dimensions of spirit of innovation, spirit of integrity, responsibility and commitment, and global vision, which enriches the theoretical and measurement research of entrepreneurship in the new era.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; digital transformation; SMEs; high-quality development; high-tech enterprise

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