<p>In the era of the digital economy, the critical concern is whether and how executive shareholding boosts enterprise digital transformation. In this paper, the manufacturing data of 2007–2023 listed A-share enterprises are adopted to acquire the data about enterprise digital transformation by computational learning and text analysis, to probe into the mechanism by which executive shareholding stimulates enterprise digital transformation from the perspective of agent theory. As illustrated in empirical results, first, executive equity incentive casts an inverted U-shape impact on enterprise digital transformation: with an increase in executive shareholding proportions, a nonlinear variation trend takes shape in which declination follows the rising effects of executive equity incentive upon the intention of enterprise digital transformation; second, long-term executive steering plays a mediating role: executive equity incentive positively affects long-term executive steering, and in turn, a nonlinear impact on the intention of enterprise digital transformation emerges; finally, performance expectation gap and market competition intensity play moderating roles between executive equity incentive and enterprise digital transformation. In other words, both the performance expectation gap and market competition intensity reinforce the inverted U-shape relationship between executive equity incentive and enterprise digital transformation. As benefits from the research conclusion of this paper, academic research in related fields to executive equity incentive and enterprise digital transformation is enriched, and the empirical evidence is provided for advancement in current enterprise digital transformation.</p>