Against the backdrop of accelerated digital transformation globally, investigating the impact of big data applications (BDAs) on quality-driven firm development provides substantial academic insights and valuable practical implications. Employing empirical evidence from China’s domestically listed firms spanning 2007–2022, we examine the role of BDAs on quality-driven firm development and the mechanisms underlying this effect. The results reveal that BDAs significantly enhance quality-driven firm development, and this result remains robust even after addressing endogeneity issues. Moreover, mechanism analysis reveals that BDAs primarily enhance quality-driven firm development by improving firms’ internal control capabilities and ability to capture external market opportunities. This research provides implications for firms to prioritize investing in big data technologies to strengthen their internal controls and enhance market responsiveness, thereby fostering quality-driven firm development in the digital economy.