IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i17p8071-d1744512.html

Modeling Relations Between Digital Economy and Regional Innovation: A Multi-Transmission Effect from Environmental Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Lirong Wang

    (School of Statistics, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070, China)

  • Tian Wang

    (School of Statistics, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070, China)

  • Shengxia Xu

    (School of Statistics, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070, China)

  • Yaru Zhang

    (School of Statistics, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070, China)

Abstract

Using the digital economy as a new carrier to drive innovation has become an indispensable strategic support for the progress of countries, while environmental protection is a necessary condition to ensure its sustainable development. A multi-transition framework is proposed in this article with the purpose of revealing the relations between the digital economy and regional innovation under the indirect effects of environmental performance; a mediating model and threshold effect model are used to examine empirical results considering the panel data at Chinese provincial levels. Moreover, the heterogeneity and the robustness also verified the multi-transition effect. The research findings are as follows: First, the digital economy can significantly enhance regional innovation capacity, which also shows obvious dimensional and geographical heterogeneities. Second, a mediating effect of the digital economy on regional innovation under environmental performance is considered, and environmental performance has an increasingly significant role in fostering regional innovation as the digital economy continues to grow, indicating that improving environmental performance is an essential strategy for achieving the steady release of innovation dividends. Furthermore, the above results are provided with heterogeneity and robustness under PM 2.5 , COVID-19, and regional innovation quantiles. Therefore, focusing on regional innovation via environmental performance is necessary, and policymakers and professionals should pay more attention to further stimulating regional innovation potential.

Suggested Citation

  • Lirong Wang & Tian Wang & Shengxia Xu & Yaru Zhang, 2025. "Modeling Relations Between Digital Economy and Regional Innovation: A Multi-Transmission Effect from Environmental Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-25, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8071-:d:1744512
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8071/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8071/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kai Chang & Huijia Zhang & Boyang Li, 2024. "The Impact of Digital Economy and Industrial Agglomeration on the Changes of Industrial Structure in the Yangtze River Delta," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 9207-9227, June.
    2. Zhu, Bangzhu & Xu, Chenxin & Wang, Ping & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "How does internal carbon pricing affect corporate environmental performance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 65-77.
    3. Sun, Guanglin & Fang, Jiming & Li, Jinning & Wang, Xiaolin, 2024. "Research on the impact of the integration of digital economy and real economy on enterprise green innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    4. Yi, Jiahui & Dai, Sheng & Li, Lin & Cheng, Jinhua, 2024. "How does digital economy development affect renewable energy innovation?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    5. Kizys, Renatas & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel C. & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis, 2023. "Does genetic diversity on corporate boards lead to improved environmental performance?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Alina Sorescu & Martin Schreier, 2021. "Innovation in the digital economy: a broader view of its scope, antecedents, and consequences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 627-631, July.
    7. Li, Ying & Chiu, Yung-ho & Lu, Liang Chun, 2018. "Energy and AQI performance of 31 cities in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 194-202.
    8. Tania Pereira Christopoulos & Pedro Verga Matos & Rafael Drumond Borges, 2024. "An Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How the State Integrates Actors for Developing Impact Investing in Portugal," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 7968-7992, June.
    9. Djula Borozan, 2023. "Institutions and Environmentally Adjusted Efficiency," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 4489-4510, December.
    10. Alharthi, Majed & Hanif, Imran & Alamoudi, Hawazen, 2022. "Impact of environmental pollution on human health and financial status of households in MENA countries: Future of using renewable energy to eliminate the environmental pollution," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 338-346.
    11. Jason Hickel, 2019. "The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 873-884, September.
    12. Ma, Dan & Zhu, Qing, 2022. "Innovation in emerging economies: Research on the digital economy driving high-quality green development," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 801-813.
    13. Pascal Paillé & Yang Chen & Olivier Boiral & Jiafei Jin, 2014. "The Impact of Human Resource Management on Environmental Performance: An Employee-Level Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 451-466, May.
    14. Li, Huanjie & Zhang, Yuan & Li, Yan, 2024. "The impact of the digital economy on the total factor productivity of manufacturing firms: Empirical evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    15. Al Halbusi, Hussam & Al-Sulaiti, Khalid Ibrahim & Alalwan, Ali Abdallah & Al-Busaidi, Adil S., 2025. "AI capability and green innovation impact on sustainable performance: Moderating role of big data and knowledge management," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    16. Zameer, Hashim & Yasmeen, Humaira & Wang, Rong & Tao, Jing & Malik, Muhammad Nasir, 2020. "An empirical investigation of the coordinated development of natural resources, financial development and ecological efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    17. Yi, Ming & Liu, Yafen & Sheng, Mingyue Selena & Wen, Le, 2022. "Effects of digital economy on carbon emission reduction: New evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    18. Ying Song & Lu Yang & Stavros Sindakis & Sakshi Aggarwal & Charles Chen, 2023. "Analyzing the Role of High-Tech Industrial Agglomeration in Green Transformation and Upgrading of Manufacturing Industry: the Case of China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 3847-3877, December.
    19. Ma, Zhuoya & Xiao, Hui & Li, Jing & Chen, Hanting & Chen, Wenhui, 2025. "Study on how the digital economy affects urban carbon emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    20. Zeng, Bing & Chotia, Varun & Ghosh, Vinit & Cheng, Jiyang, 2025. "Digital antecedents and mechanisms towards sustainable digital innovation ecosystems: examining the role of circular supply chain resilience," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zheng, Mingbo & Zhang, Xinyu, 2025. "Digitalization and renewable energy development: Analysis based on cross-country panel data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    2. Ran, Qiying & Yang, Xiaodong & Yan, Hongchuan & Xu, Yang & Cao, Jianhong, 2023. "Natural resource consumption and industrial green transformation: Does the digital economy matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Na Lu & Tiantian Shan & Wen Li & Xuan Liu & Weidong Wang, 2025. "Does the Digital Economy Promote Green Land Use Efficiency?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Qiangyi Li & Jiexiao Ge & Mingyu Huang & Xiaoyu Wu & Houbao Fan, 2024. "Uncovering the Triple Synergy of New-Type Urbanization, Greening and Digitalization in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Khalil Nimer & Muath Abdelqader & Cemil Kuzey & Ali Uyar, 2024. "Emission targeting and carbon emissions: The moderating effect of female directors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3480-3504, May.
    6. Nan Li & Beibei Shi & Rong Kang, 2023. "Analysis of the Coupling Effect and Space-Time Difference between China’s Digital Economy Development and Carbon Emissions Reduction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Zhang, Qiming & Zhao, Xuan, 2024. "Can the digital economy facilitate the optimization of industrial structure in resource-based cities?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 405-416.
    8. Xiujin Guo & Zhengming Wang, 2024. "How does the digital economy affect the green development of China’s industry?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(9), pages 1-21, September.
    9. Zhang, Huaqing & Cai, Cen & Zhang, Xiangjian & Tu, Yongqian & Zhu, Qianyu, 2024. "Relationship between business environment and regional innovation level: Examining the moderating role of digital finance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    10. Huang, Jie & Lu, Hongyang & Du, Minzhe, 2025. "Can digital economy narrow the regional economic gap? Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    11. Zhao, Ruizeng & An, Yuchen & Tu, Hanyun & Song, Jiashan, 2024. "China's economic growth and low-carbon development under the background of resource curse: A new perspective based on digital finance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    12. Yang Cui & Shihu Yu & Yaqing Liu & Yushang Hu & Zanxin Wang, 2025. "Effects of the Digital Economy on Reducing Carbon Emissions in China’s Energy-Intensive Manufacturing Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Taqdees Fatima & Bingxiang Li & Shahab Alam Malik & Dan Zhang, 2023. "The Spatial Effect of Industrial Intelligence on High-Quality Green Development of Industry under Environmental Regulations and Low Carbon Intensity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Zhao, Xiaoyang & Weng, Zongyuan, 2024. "Digital dividend or divide: The digital economy and urban entrepreneurial activity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    15. Guoge Yang & Feng Deng & Fengyi Wang & Zhenyu Mao & Xingsheng Wu & Fengyu Zhang, 2024. "Digital economy, resource distortion and low-carbon inclusive development-Evidence from the perspectives of a threshold effect and knowledge spillover effect," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(7), pages 1-32, July.
    16. Liu, Yiling & Lin, Yu-Cheng, 2025. "Converting knowledge into Productivity: The role of intellectual property empowerment and digital economy in enhancing regional new quality productivity forces - Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Li, Longda, 2024. "The environmental spillovers of buyers' digital transformation: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    18. Qiaozhe Guo & Chengxuan Geng & Nengzhi Yao & Lexin Zhao, 2024. "Can digital infrastructure enhance economic efficiency? Evidence from China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1729-1752, April.
    19. Zhang, Yiren & Ran, Congjing, 2023. "Effect of digital economy on air pollution in China? New evidence from the “National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Area” policy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 986-1004.
    20. Fan, Xiaoyan & Ding, Guoxuan & Long, Shuting & Dong, Yiran & Yan, Jiajun, 2025. "Digital divide or dividend? Exploring the impact of digital economy on regional gaps of high-quality economic development in China using relational data model," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8071-:d:1744512. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.