IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uwa/wpaper/26-02.html

Digital Transformation and Innovation in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yanrui Wu

    (Department of Economics, Business School, University of Western Australia)

Abstract

This paper presents a review of the nexus between digital transformation and innovation using evidence from China. It explores the general literature in this field as well as China-specific studies. The trend of digital transformation and innovation is assessed by using Chinese and global data. It also provides new evidence about the nexus between digital transformation and innovation using Chinese regional data.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanrui Wu, 2026. "Digital Transformation and Innovation in China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 26-02, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwa:wpaper:26-02
    Note: MD5 = 1a7be55f43cd658cb2af4334d369dc05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ecompapers.biz.uwa.edu.au/paper/PDF%20of%20Discussion%20Papers/2026/DP%2026.02_Wu.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ancillai, Chiara & Sabatini, Andrea & Gatti, Marco & Perna, Andrea, 2023. "Digital technology and business model innovation: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Tiago Sá & João J.M. Ferreira & Shital Jayantilal, 2023. "Open innovation strategy: a systematic literature review," European Journal of Innovation Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 454-510, August.
    3. Xu, Yong & Ji, Junzhe & Qiao, Yue & Huang, Jilei, 2025. "How and when does digital transformation promote technological innovation performance? A study of Chinese high-tech firms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. Hou, Xin & Gao, Jianbo, 2025. "Toward Common Prosperity: Measuring decrease in inequality in China prefecture-level cities," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 29-46.
    5. Li, Ting & Xiong, Shengxu, 2025. "The differential impact of enterprise digital transformation on ambidextrous innovation: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Xuebing Dong & Shunjie Meng & Liangbo Xu & Yueyou Xin, 2025. "Digital transformation and corporate green innovation forms: evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(11), pages 2644-2672, September.
    7. Miao, Yongming & Li, Yaokuang & Wu, Yanrui, 2024. "Digital economy and economic competitive pressure on local governments: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    8. Nambisan, Satish & Wright, Mike & Feldman, Maryann, 2019. "The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress, challenges and key themes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    9. Shufen Guo & Ludi Wen & Yanrui Wu & Sandun C. Perera, 2025. "How Does Digital Technology Reshape the Boundaries of Intercity Innovation Collaboration? Evidence From China," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(5), pages 1379-1400, November.
    10. Jiyuan Zhang & Xingquan Yang & Lei Wang, 2025. "How does digital transformation affect enterprise diversification?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(28), pages 3948-3963, June.
    11. Michael König & Kjetil Storesletten & Zheng Song & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2022. "From Imitation to Innovation: Where Is All That Chinese R&D Going?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(4), pages 1615-1654, July.
    12. Esther Calderon-Monge & Domingo Ribeiro-Soriano, 2024. "The role of digitalization in business and management: a systematic literature review," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 449-491, February.
    13. Yongming Miao & Yaokuang Li & Yanrui Wu, 2024. "Digital economy and economic competitive pressure on local governments: Evidence from China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 24-06, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    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. Schmück, Kilian & Schückes, Magnus & Gutmann, Tobias & Gassmann, Oliver, 2025. "Less trust, more truth: Implications and design choices for business models and platform ecosystems in the age of Web3," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    3. Effie Kesidou & Anastasia Ri & Stephen Roper, 2026. "Balancing act or two roads to travel: Evaluating the trade-offs between digitalization and net zero innovation in SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 797-826, February.
    4. Zhang, Yujie & Ba, Zhichao & Mao, Jin & Li, Gang, 2025. "Quantifying the impact of digital technology on enterprise processes using LLM-based causal claim networks," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    5. Andrea Billi & Alessandro Bernardo, 2025. "The Effects of Digital Transformation, IT Innovation, and Sustainability Strategies on Firms’ Performances: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Liu, Qian & Gao, Jian & Li, Shijie, 2024. "The innovation model and upgrade path of digitalization driven tourism industry: Longitudinal case study of OCT," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    7. Daohan Yu & Fang Wang, 2025. "Intergovernmental Competition and Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Efficiency: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Xing, Yunfei & Zhang, Justin Zuopeng & Wang, Xiwei, 2026. "Digital innovation and transformation process in business growth: A systematic literature review and research agenda," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    9. Xie, Weihong & Zou, Yukun & Guo, Haizhen & Li, Zhongshun, 2024. "What drives digital innovation cycles? Evidence from manufacturing enterprises in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    10. Guo, Bin & Zhang, Jiale & Tan, Ziyan, 2024. "Firm digitalization as strategic response: An integrated model based on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Li, Zhongshun & Xie, Weihong & Wang, Zhong & Wang, Yongjian & Huang, Danyu, 2023. "Antecedent configurations and performance of business models of intelligent manufacturing enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    12. Wu, Haojie & Qu, Weihua, 2025. "Public engagement and green innovation: Evidence from China's heavy-polluting enterprises," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Chaozheng Zhang & Danling Chen & Xupeng Zhang & Xinhai Lu & Jiao Hou & Qingsong He & Jia Li & Yizhen Yin & Chenning Deng, 2025. "Underestimated impacts: the multi-dimensional roles of land finance in driving regional economic integration," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Camps, Carolin & Kraus, Sascha & Thomas, Asha & Tiberius, Victor & Jones, Paul, 2026. "Digital Entrepreneurship: A review, research synthesis, and development of a framework," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. Guomin Song & Fengyan Wang & Feng Dong, 2024. "Can digital economy foster synergistic increases in green innovation and corporate value? Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(6), pages 1-29, June.
    16. Javid Zare & Ajax Persaud, 2025. "Digital transformation and business model innovation: a bibliometric analysis of existing research and future perspectives," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 1999-2032, September.
    17. Weking, Jörg & Desouza, Kevin C. & Fielt, Erwin & Kowalkiewicz, Marek, 2023. "Metaverse-enabled entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    18. Magnus Schückes & Tobias Gutmann, 2021. "Why do startups pursue initial coin offerings (ICOs)? The role of economic drivers and social identity on funding choice," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1027-1052, August.
    19. Muhammad Farooq Islam & Ozge Can, 2024. "Integrating digital and sustainable entrepreneurship through business models: a bibliometric analysis," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    20. Jin, Laiqun & Dai, Jiaying & Jiang, Weijie & Cao, Kairui, 2023. "Digital finance and misallocation of resources among firms: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:uwa:wpaper:26-02. 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: Sam Tang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuwaau.html .

    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.