Peng Siying, Jiang Xuchu, Li Ying
Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, 430073, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Feb 23;9(3):e13961. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13961. eCollection 2023 Mar.
The digital economy has become an important driving force for the steady development of China's economy, and enterprise innovation is a key element for an enterprise's survival and development. This paper constructs a mathematical model to measure the scale of digital economic development and the efficiency of enterprise innovation. It builds a fixed effects model and mediated effects model to study the effect of the development of the digital economy on enterprise innovation based on data from 30 provinces from 2012 to 2020. The results show that (1) there is a significant positive effect of the digital economy on enterprise innovation with an impact coefficient of 0.028, and the economic meaning of the coefficient is that for every 1-point increase in the digital economy index, the ratio of R&D capital expenditures to the enterprise's operating income increases by 0.028% points. This finding remains significant in the robustness test. (2) A further test of the mediating effect finds that the digital economy can drive enterprise innovation by reducing financing constraints. (3) In the regional heterogeneity analysis, it is found that the effect of the digital economy in promoting enterprise innovation is more prominent in the central region, and the impact coefficients are 0.04, 0.06, 0.025, and 0.024 for the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions, respectively. Taking the central region as an example, the economic meaning of the coefficient is that for every 1-point increase in the digital economy index, the ratio of R&D capital expenditures to the enterprise's operating income increases by 0.06% points. The findings of this paper are of practical significance to enterprises in enhancing their innovation capabilities and promoting the high-quality development of China's economy.
数字经济已成为中国经济稳定发展的重要驱动力，而企业创新是企业生存与发展的关键要素。本文构建了一个数学模型来衡量数字经济发展规模和企业创新效率。基于2012年至2020年30个省份的数据，建立了固定效应模型和中介效应模型，以研究数字经济发展对企业创新的影响。结果表明：（1）数字经济对企业创新有显著的正向影响，影响系数为0.028，该系数的经济意义是数字经济指数每提高1个点，研发资本支出与企业营业收入的比率提高0.028个百分点。这一发现在稳健性检验中仍然显著。（2）对中介效应的进一步检验发现，数字经济可以通过缓解融资约束来推动企业创新。（3）在区域异质性分析中发现，数字经济对企业创新的促进作用在中部地区更为突出，东部、中部、西部和东北地区的影响系数分别为0.04、0.06、0.025和0.024。以中部地区为例，该系数的经济意义是数字经济指数每提高1个点，研发资本支出与企业营业收入的比率提高0.06个百分点。本文的研究结果对企业提升创新能力和推动中国经济高质量发展具有现实意义。
