Research on the Influence of Digital Economy on Technological Innovation: Evidence from Manufacturing Enterprises in China

Abstract

Digital economy is a key breakthrough in the new round of the industrial revolution, and technological innovation is the key to economic growth and wealth creation by enterprises. The influence of the digital economy on the innovation of manufacturing enterprises is directly related to solving the problem of inadequate development. Therefore, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to study the influence of the digital economy on enterprise technological innovation. Taking Chinese manufacturing companies during 2016–2020 as a sample, this paper measured the technological innovation level of enterprises by the quantity and quality of innovation output of manufacturing enterprises and measured the development degree of the digital economy by the four dimensions of digital economy infrastructure, digital industrialization, industrial digitalization, and digital governance. The influence of the digital economy on enterprise technological innovation was researched through the Moran index and panel regression model. Moran’s indexes were all greater than 0, and the data were concentrated in the first and third quadrants of the scatter chart, and the value dropped from 0.186 to 0.152, indicating that provincial digital economic development presents a phenomenon of aggregation in spatial distribution, which gradually decreases along the eastern coast to the western region and gradually moves from aggregation to dispersion. The regression coefficients are significant at least at the level of 10%, indicating that the digital economy can effectively promote the output quantity and quality of technological innovation in manufacturing enterprises. The digital economy has a double-promotion effect on technological innovation. In promoting the technological innovation of manufacturing enterprises, infrastructure, digital industrialization, and industrial digitization play a dual and positive role as well as digital governance. In addition, the digital economy and its four dimensions have a first-order and second-order time-lag effect, which has a double-promotion effect on enterprises’ technological innovation. In general, the digital economy can promote enterprise technological innovation.

Study on the Coupled and Coordinated Development and Evolution of Digital Economy and Green Technology Innovation

“…Through the Moran index and panel regression models, Wang Qiong et al studied the effect of the digital economy on enterprise technological innovation from 2016 to 2020 using a sample of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. They came to the conclusion that the digital economy has a double promotional effect on enterprise technological innovation [18].…”

China’s Digital Economy and Enterprise Labor Demand: The Mediating Effects of Green Technology Innovation

“…At present, some research remains at the theoretical analysis level without quantifying the impact of technological innovation on total employment. However, the empirical results in this paper show that green technology innovation plays a significant intermediary role between the digital economy and the scale of enterprise labor demand, with the main pathway being that the digital economy promotes green technology innovation within companies [22], and enterprise green technology innovation further increases the labor demand scale [34]. Song's research found that progress in environmentally biased technologies can facilitate the supply and demand of regional labor [60], while Yang Xue et al demonstrated that technological innovation did not result in significant substitution pressure to Japan's overall labor employment [61], both of which aligned with the conclusions of this study.…”

“…This transmission mechanism aligns with the mechanism of mediation effects. Mainly, the digital economy has shown a significant ability to promote green technology innovation within enterprises [21,22]. Concurrently, green technology innovation can influence the scale of enterprise labor demand by reducing production costs, expanding business operations, increasing the likelihood of engaging in new production activities, and generating demands for research and development management.…”

“…In terms of the indirect effect of the digital economy, on one hand, the research has shown that the digital economy has a positive promoting effect on green technology innovation in enterprises [21,22]. Its impact pathway is mainly reflected in the following four aspects: from the perspective of enterprises, the digital economy facilitates talent mobility and capital circulation, promoting optimized resource allocation.…”

Study on the Coupling Coordination Development between the Digital Economy and Innovation Efficiency: Evidence from the Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River

“…From a macro perspective, the positive effects of the DE on innovation were proven by analyzing data from 29 countries [4], Chinese provinces [2,3], and Chinese prefecture-level cities [5]. From a micro perspective, by conducting empirical research on the relevant data of Chinese A-share listed companies and Chinese manufacturing listed companies, the significant promotion effect of the DE on enterprise innovation has been confirmed [6][7][8][9]. It follows that the DE is a driving force for innovation development of macro-and micro-agents.…”