Digital Transformation Disclosure and the Visibility-Capability-Conversion Gap in Supply-Chain Quality Commitments: Evidence from Chinese Listed Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

Digital transformation and quality-related disclosures are often used to infer manufacturing capability, yet public visibility is not the same as verified capability or market conversion. This study develops a visibility-capability-conversion framework for supply-chain quality commitments and tests it with a 2010-2024 panel of Chinese A-share listed manufacturing firms. Digital transformation, intelligent manufacturing orientation and quality-commitment visibility are measured from annual-report text, and overseas outcomes are examined with firm and year fixed effects. The results show that digital transformation disclosure and supply-chain quality-commitment visibility co-move in public reports, but this visibility does not function as a stand-alone signal of subsequent overseas revenue, overseas revenue share or export-market survival. An exploratory verification-related production-quality infrastructure proxy suggests a narrower boundary: quality-commitment visibility accompanied by more concrete verification-related language is associated with overseas gross margin, not with revenue-scale conversion. The paper contributes a disclosure-based measurement audit for interpreting digital and quality text signals in manufacturing research.