IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spt/admaec/v16y2026i3f16_3_4.html

Digital Goods Trade and National Innovation: A dual-mediation Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Nina Zhu
  • Zhuoyuan Yang

Abstract

This study investigates how digital goods trade affects national innovation capacity through dual mediating channels. Using panel data from 69 countries over 2011-2020, we construct a multiple mediation model to test the parallel mediating roles of domestic research and development (DRD) and international technology cooperation (ITC). Results show that digital goods imports significantly enhance innovation through both DRD and ITC, with the ITC channel exhibiting a substantially larger mediation effect. However, digital goods exports show no significant mediating effects through either channel. Heterogeneity analysis across five digital goods categories reveals that the positive effects of imports are concentrated in communication equipment and electronic components, while exports of computer peripherals exhibit a significant direct effect. These findings extend the trade-innovation nexus to the digital goods context, reveal asymmetric mediating mechanisms between imports and exports.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Zhu & Zhuoyuan Yang, 2026. "Digital Goods Trade and National Innovation: A dual-mediation Perspective," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 16(3), pages 1-4.
    • Handle: RePEc:spt:admaec:v:16:y:2026:i:3:f:16_3_4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.scienpress.com/Upload/AMAE%2fVol%2016_3_4.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    2. Robert M. Salomon & J. Myles Shaver, 2005. "Learning by Exporting: New Insights from Examining Firm Innovation," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 431-460, June.
    3. Henri Njangang & Luc Ndeffo Nembot & Joseph Pasky Ngameni, 2020. "Does financial development reduce the size of the informal economy in sub‐Saharan African countries?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 375-391, September.
    4. Bosetti, Valentina & Cattaneo, Cristina & Verdolini, Elena, 2015. "Migration of skilled workers and innovation: A European Perspective," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 311-322.
    5. Shuzhong Ma & Jiwen Guo & Hongsheng Zhang, 2019. "Policy Analysis and Development Evaluation of Digital Trade: An International Comparison," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 27(3), pages 49-75, May.
    6. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Zhao, Jun, 2022. "The impact of digital economy on energy transition across the globe: The mediating role of government governance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    7. Gwanghoon Lee, 2009. "International knowledge spillovers through the import of information technology commodities," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(24), pages 3161-3169.
    8. Erik Brynjolfsson & Danielle Li & Lindsey Raymond, 2025. "Generative AI at Work," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 140(2), pages 889-942.
    9. Şeker, Murat & Ulu, Mehmet Fatih & Rodriguez-Delgado, Jose Daniel, 2024. "Imported intermediate goods and product innovation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    10. Danish, & Khan, Salahuddin & Haneklaus, Nils, 2023. "Sustainable economic development across globe: The dynamics between technology, digital trade and economic performance," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Stanisław Kubielas & Magdalena Olender-Skorek, 2014. "ICT modernization in Central and Eastern Europe: a Schumpeterian catching up perspective," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 115-136, February.
    12. Liu, Weiwei & Tao, Yuan & Bi, Kexin, 2022. "Capturing information on global knowledge flows from patent transfers: An empirical study using USPTO patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    13. Connolly, Michelle, 2003. "The dual nature of trade: measuring its impact on imitation and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 31-55, October.
    14. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & Matthieu Lequien & Marc J. Melitz, 2018. "The Impact of Exports on Innovation: Theory and Evidence," Working papers 678, Banque de France.
    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. Wang, Jianlong & Wu, Haitao & Liu, Yong & Wang, Weilong, 2024. "Health welfare in the digital era: Exploring the impact of digital trade on residents' health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    2. Zheng, Mingbo & Feng, Gen-Fu & Feng, Suling & Yuan, Xuemei, 2019. "The road to innovation vs. the role of globalization: A dynamic quantile investigation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 65-83.
    3. Mark Vancauteren & Ahmed Boutorat & Oscar Lemmers, 2024. "Import Competition, Destinations, and Firms’ Patent Strategies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4284-4314, March.
    4. Simachev, Yuri & Kuzyk, Mikhail & Ivanov, Denis, 2012. "Fostering innovation in Russian companies in the post-crisis period: Opportunities and constraints," MPRA Paper 41284, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen & Heidi Williams, 2019. "A Toolkit of Policies to Promote Innovation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 163-184, Summer.
    6. Halima Jibril & Stephen Roper, 2022. "Of chickens and eggs: Exporting, innovation novelty and productivity," Working Papers 027, The Productivity Institute.
    7. Kong, Dongmin & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Higher education and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Dr Max Nathan, 2013. "The wider economic impacts of high-skilled migrants: a survey of the literature," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 413, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    9. Pascal L. Ghazalian & Ali Fakih, 2017. "R&D and Innovation in Food Processing Firms in Transition Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 427-450, June.
    10. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & Matthieu Lequien & Marc J. Melitz, 2024. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Market Size on Innovation: Evidence from French Firm-Level Exports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 608-626, May.
    11. Cristiano Antonelli & Christophe Feder, 2021. "The Schumpeterian creative response: export and innovation: evidence for OECD countries 1995–2015," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(3), pages 803-821, October.
    12. Impullitti, Giammario & Akcigit, Ufuk & Ates, Sina T., 2018. "Innovation and Trade Policy in a Globalized World," CEPR Discussion Papers 15804, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    13. repec:isu:genstf:202001010800009179 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Yang, Gaoju & Wang, Fang & Huang, Xianhai & Chen, Hangyu, 2022. "Human capital inflow, firm innovation and patent mix," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Chen, Ji & Wu, Liudan & Hao, Lili & Yu, Xiao & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2024. "Does the import of green products encourage green technology innovation? Empirical evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    16. Amin,Mohammad, 2021. "Does Competition from Informal Firms Impact R&D by Formal SMEs ? Evidence Using Firm-Level Survey Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9868, The World Bank.
    17. Liu, Xiaohui & Zou, Huan, 2008. "The impact of greenfield FDI and mergers and acquisitions on innovation in Chinese high-tech industries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 352-364, July.
    18. Gil, Pedro Mazeda & Gabriel, Susana & Afonso, Oscar, 2020. "Is the skills mismatch important under skill-biased technological change and imperfect substitutability between immigrants and natives?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 38-54.
    19. Richter, Doreen, 2014. "Demographic change and innovation: The ongoing challenge from the diversity of the labor force," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 25(3), pages 166-184.
    20. Gigout, Timothee, 2019. "Firm dynamics in an global and uncertain economy," MPRA Paper 96569, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Oct 2019.
    21. Yang, Mengyang & Liu, Yawen & Wang, Jingle & Tang, Xiaobin, 2025. "How does digital trade development affect carbon emissions? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1475-1491.

    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:spt:admaec:v:16:y:2026:i:3:f:16_3_4. 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: Eleftherios Spyromitros-Xioufis (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.scienpress.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.