Yu Ruichao, Wu Linrong, Li Guiying, Wang Zixin
School of Economic and Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, GuangXi, China.
School of Management and Engineering, Guilin University, Guilin, GuangXi, China.
PeerJ Comput Sci. 2025 Apr 29;11:e2848. doi: 10.7717/peerj-cs.2848. eCollection 2025.
Digital talent has emerged as a pivotal resource for advancing artificial intelligence (AI) within enterprises, and it constitutes a critical digital asset that firms prioritize in their AI development strategies, aiming to attract and retain such talent. To elucidate the interconnections and mechanisms linking the digital backgrounds of executives with the level of AI utilization in enterprises, this study undertakes an examination of the relationship between these two variables, drawing on a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies spanning from 2012 to 2022. The research findings are as follows: (1) The presence of a substantial number of executives with digital backgrounds within a company significantly enhances the development of AI utilization within the enterprise. (2) The influence of executives' digital backgrounds on the level of AI utilization in enterprises is modulated through the enhancement of the enterprise's total factor productivity. (3) Executives' digital backgrounds elevate the level of AI utilization by bolstering their proficiency in applying digital technology. (4) Heterogeneity analysis, conducted based on the nature of enterprise property rights, geographical regions, and technological proficiency, reveals that the positive effect of executives' digital backgrounds on AI utilization is more pronounced in private enterprises compared to state-owned enterprises. Regionally, the impact of executives' digital backgrounds on AI utilization diminishes progressively from the eastern to the central and western regions. Robustness checks, including the substitution of key variables, model alteration, the application of the instrumental variable method, and the Heckman two-stage method, confirm the persistence of these findings. This article contributes to the understanding of the impact and pathways through which executives' digital backgrounds influence AI utilization in enterprises against the backdrop of high-quality economic development. It enriches the scholarly discourse on executives' digital backgrounds and AI utilization in enterprises, offering both theoretical support and practical insights for the advancement of AI within enterprises.
数字人才已成为企业推进人工智能（AI）的关键资源，它构成了企业在人工智能发展战略中优先考虑的关键数字资产，企业旨在吸引和留住此类人才。为了阐明高管的数字背景与企业人工智能应用水平之间的联系和机制，本研究以2012年至2022年的中国A股上市公司为样本，对这两个变量之间的关系进行了考察。研究结果如下：（1）公司内大量具有数字背景的高管的存在显著促进了企业人工智能应用的发展。（2）高管数字背景对企业人工智能应用水平的影响是通过提高企业的全要素生产率来调节的。（3）高管的数字背景通过提高他们应用数字技术的熟练程度来提升人工智能的应用水平。（4）基于企业产权性质、地理区域和技术熟练程度进行的异质性分析表明，与国有企业相比，高管数字背景对人工智能应用的积极影响在民营企业中更为明显。在区域方面，高管数字背景对人工智能应用的影响从东部到中部和西部地区逐渐减弱。包括关键变量替代、模型变更、工具变量法应用和赫克曼两阶段法在内的稳健性检验证实了这些结果的持续性。本文有助于理解在高质量经济发展背景下高管数字背景影响企业人工智能应用的影响和途径。它丰富了关于高管数字背景和企业人工智能应用的学术讨论，为企业推进人工智能提供了理论支持和实践见解。
