IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v88y2026ics1544612325026017.html

Does the industrial internet enhance firm innovation? Evidence from China’s pilot reform

Author

Listed:
  • Zuo, Xiaoming
  • Liu, Huaijie
  • Sun, Peng

Abstract

This study examines whether China’s Industrial Internet pilot policy (2017–2023) enhances firm innovation and explores the underlying mechanisms. Exploiting the staggered rollout of the policy across provinces as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that Industrial Internet adoption significantly increases firms’ innovation output. Mechanism tests show that the policy promotes knowledge accumulation, strengthens innovation persistence, and improves human capital allocation. We also document positive economic consequences, as treated firms earn higher returns to innovation. The effects are stronger for capital-intensive firms, those located in regions with advanced digital infrastructure, and firms undertaking joint or substantive innovation activities. Overall, the evidence highlights the Industrial Internet as an effective catalyst for firm innovation by deepening R&D capability and facilitating cross-industry knowledge flows.

Suggested Citation

  • Zuo, Xiaoming & Liu, Huaijie & Sun, Peng, 2026. "Does the industrial internet enhance firm innovation? Evidence from China’s pilot reform," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:88:y:2026:i:c:s1544612325026017
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.109352
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325026017
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.109352?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • L52 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:88:y:2026:i:c:s1544612325026017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.