Can multi-transportation networks promote corporate innovation output? An analysis based on an accessibility-reachability framework

This paper constructs an “Accessibility-Reachability” transportation network analysis framework and, based on panel data of Chinese A-share listed corporates from 2017 to 2023, systematically examines the impact of multi-transportation networks on corporate innovation output and its underlying mechanisms. The findings indicate that: (1) both accessibility and reachability significantly promote corporate innovation output, and the estimated effect of reachability is generally higher; (2) industrial agglomeration, knowledge spillover, and resource matching all play important mediating roles in the process of multi-transportation networks influencing corporate innovation output. In terms of the intensity of the mediating effects, the role of accessibility across the three mechanism pathways is generally higher than that of reachability. Its mediating effects in the industrial agglomeration and knowledge spillover channels are more pronounced, whereas the difference between accessibility and reachability narrows in the resource matching channel; (3) when reachability is insufficient, it is difficult for improvements in accessibility to be steadily transformed into innovation increments. Simultaneously, non-state-owned corporates exhibit a significantly stronger response to transportation improvements than state-owned corporates. Furthermore, inland cities are more sensitive to improvements in accessibility, while the enhancement of innovation in coastal cities relies more on the optimization of reachability; (4) regarding the configuration of the transportation structure, increasing the weights of aviation and high-speed rail helps enhance the innovation effect, whereas the promotion effect is relatively weak when aviation, high-speed rail, and highways are configured equally.