Digital Transformation and New Quality Productive Forces Development: The Moderating Effects of Corporate ESG Performance and Intellectual Property Protection

As global economies seek solutions to slowing productivity growth and sustainability challenges, China has advanced the concept of “New Quality Productive Forces” (NQPF) to guide innovation-led, green development. This study explores how corporate digital transformation (DT) contributes to regional NQPF, and how this relationship is moderated by two institutional forces: internal corporate ESG performance and external regional intellectual property protection (IPP). Using a matched panel dataset of 31,598 firm-year observations from Chinese A-share listed companies (2013–2022) and their corresponding regional data, we apply fixed-effect models and threshold regressions to empirically test the micro-to-macro productivity link. Results reveal that DT significantly enhances NQPF at the regional level, but this effect is conditional. Higher ESG performance amplifies the positive impact of DT, exhibiting an increasing marginal return. Meanwhile, IPP shows a non-linear moderating effect: only when protection surpasses a critical threshold does it unlock the productivity gains of corporate digitalization. These findings offer theoretical advances by clarifying the institutional boundaries of technology spillovers and contribute to the emerging NQPF literature by establishing a cross-level framework that links firm strategy to macroeconomic outcomes. Policy implications suggest that sustainable digitalization requires both strong internal ESG governance and robust external IP institutions to fully translate private innovation into public economic value.