IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v15y2025i2p21582440251336189.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Interpretation of the Urban Digital Economy Effecting Manufacturing Innovation Efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Shengsheng Li
  • Yuanyuan Wang
  • Xing Xu

Abstract

This study analyzes the effect of urban digital economy (UDE) development on manufacturing innovation efficiency from the perspectives of urban industrial agglomeration and government subsidies, using mixed panel data of Chinese cities and A-share manufacturing listed companies from 2011 to 2019. This study reveals the following findings: (1) There is a threshold effect of government subsidies and industrial agglomeration on the impact of UDE on the innovation efficiency of listed manufacturing industries. Quantitatively, the study identifies two thresholds for industrial agglomeration (−3.7468 and −1.5172) and two thresholds for government subsidies (16.6139 and 18.2936). (2) The impact of UDE on the innovation efficiency of the manufacturing industry is significantly enhanced with the increase in the level of urban industrial agglomeration. (3) The threshold effect of government subsidies is evident when the impact becomes more pronounced as government subsidies increase. Finally, we find regional and firm size heterogeneity in the effects from government subsidies and industrial agglomeration. This study broadens the scope of the study by considering government subsidies at the firm level and industrial agglomeration at the city level. There is a nonlinearity in the effect of UDE on manufacturing innovation efficiency. This finding enriches the theoretical framework of the relationship between UDE and firms’ innovation efficiency. Meanwhile, the findings provide clear guidance for policymakers: in the process of promoting the integration of the digital economy and the manufacturing industry, attention should be paid to optimizing the industrial agglomeration environment and the rational allocation of government subsidy resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Shengsheng Li & Yuanyuan Wang & Xing Xu, 2025. "An Interpretation of the Urban Digital Economy Effecting Manufacturing Innovation Efficiency," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(2), pages 21582440251, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:2:p:21582440251336189
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440251336189
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440251336189
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440251336189?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
    ---><---

    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:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:2:p:21582440251336189. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.