Digitalization and firms' debt maturity: Do financial constraints and uncertainty matter?

Despite the significant growth of information and communication technology adoption in industrial activity, there is still limited evidence discussing the role of industrial digitalization in firms' debt structures. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of digitalization on debt structure by employing a sample of Chinese manufacturing companies from 2001 to 2019. The results show that digitalization expands the proportion of firms' long-term debt. Further analysis reveals that digital technology superiority contributes to lowering bankruptcy costs, enabling firms to maintain longer debt maturity to manage liquidity and refinancing risks effectively. This research also finds that financially constrained firms derive greater advantages from digital transformation. Furthermore, the uncertainty risks appear to reduce the positive impacts of digitalization on firms' debt maturity.