Abstract

This research contributes to understanding the spillover effect of customer digital transformation along the supply chain. We take a supply chain relationship perspective to explore the influence of customers’ digital transformation on suppliers’ audit fees and find a significant reduction in such fees when customers undergo digital transformation. An economic mechanism analysis reveals that this transformation reduces audit fees by lowering the risks and costs encountered by auditors. This is achieved by mitigating suppliers’ business risks and improving earnings quality. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of customers’ digital transformation on suppliers’ audit fees is more pronounced when the supply chain is geographically distant, suppliers with more specific investments and with high levels of market competition.

Introduction

Digital transformation involves shifting from a traditional “industrialized” management model to a digital management model ( Verhoef et al., 2021 ). This transition goes beyond simply applying digital technologies to technical aspects of a business and involves a complete restructuring of business models and operational management. Research on the economic consequences of digital transformation emphasizes its potential influence on the quality of corporate disclosures and business risks. For example, digital technologies can improve operational management, promote networked and flattened organizational structures ( Nambisan et al., 2019 ), increase corporate disclosure transparency and the quality of accounting information and enhance communication, production and operational efficiency ( Wu et al., 2021 , Chen et al., 2022a ). By digitally collecting and analyzing data, firms can effectively visualize information, enhance interdepartmental coordination, refine risk control processes, mitigate operational risks and reduce management fraud and decision-making errors that lead to losses, thereby enhancing their market reputation ( Manita et al., 2020 , Zhou and Li, 2023 ). Most studies focus on the direct effects of digital transformation on firms’ risk responses and information transfer capabilities, while its broader effects on the supply chain have not been sufficiently investigated ( Guo et al., 2023 ).

The production operations of suppliers and their financial decisions are influenced and informed by their customers, who therefore play a vital role in the supply chain ( Ak and Patatoukas, 2016 ). Investing in supply chain relationships promotes the economic interdependence of suppliers and customers. The value of such investment depends on customers’ growth prospects, and ensuring the stability of their businesses can lead to higher expected returns from supply chain collaboration. Conversely, if customers face business challenges or go bankrupt, they can jeopardize the value of the assets allocated by suppliers ( Raman and Shahrur, 2008 ). This increases suppliers’ cash flow and operational risk ( Itzkowitz, 2013 ). Thus, suppliers are highly sensitive to the operations and activities of their customers. The risks and information associated with customers can generate a spillover effect in the supply chain, which can then trigger cascading changes in suppliers’ operational risks and influence their investments and financial decisions ( Hertzel et al., 2008 , Jacobson and von Schedvin, 2015 , Chiu et al., 2019 ). By gaining access to more transparent customer information, suppliers can better forecast customer demand, reduce transaction costs, alleviate shortages and losses and enhance production efficiency and inventory management ( Yang et al., 2020 ). Digital transformation can have positive effects on business risks and disclosure quality, in addition to the supply chain, but does the digital transformation of customer businesses also lead to additional spillover effects on suppliers?

Conclusion and discussion

Amid increased economic uncertainty, businesses are increasingly turning to digital transformation to enhance their resilience and optimize their resource allocation. The supply chain is a critical component of business operations that integrates logistics, information flow and capital flow. Microenterprises aiming to gain a competitive advantage can enhance their collaborations within supply chains. We investigated the spillover effect of customer digital transformation on suppliers through assessing its impact on audit fees. This extends research on the economic consequences of digital transformation beyond the boundaries of supply chain relationships. Our empirical findings indicate that customers’ digital transformation can reduce suppliers’ audit fees. Our heterogeneity analysis shows that this effect is more evident when there is a greater geographic distance between suppliers and customers, higher levels of dedicated investment and increased competitiveness in the supplier market. Through the economic mechanism of mitigating supply chain risk and facilitating collaboration and information transfer in supply chains, customers’ digital transformation reduces suppliers’ audit risks and costs, thus leading to lower audit fees.

Based on previous research findings, we offer the following conclusions. First, the implementation of digital transformation by suppliers’ customers can potentially cause a spillover effect across the supply chain, thereby affecting the economic interests and decisions of suppliers. Consequently, when faced with fierce market competition, firms should fully realize the beneficial effects of digital transformation on information transfer efficiency and collaboration within the supply chain. Such transformation should therefore be actively promoted, because through it firms can facilitate a seamless connection of resources, information and knowledge within the supply chain, thus fostering sustainable economic growth through enhanced coordination and cooperation.