IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-024-02787-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the effect of urban digital infrastructure on green innovation: mechanism identification and spatial-temporal characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Chengming Li

    (Minzu University of China
    Minzu University of China)

  • Meiyu Wen

    (Minzu University of China
    Minzu University of China)

  • Shaoxiang Jiang

    (Peking University)

  • Huaxing Wang

    (Hangzhou City University
    Zhejiang University)

Abstract

Under the background of digitization and greening in China, digital infrastructure offers new opportunities for developing green innovation. This paper investigates the effect of digital infrastructure on urban green innovation using panel data from 285 Chinese prefecture-level cities between 2011 and 2020, and explains the mechanism and its spatial-temporal dynamic effect. The results demonstrate that digital infrastructure promotes urban green innovation. Talent agglomeration, R&D investment increase, and industrial structure upgrading are crucial channels. Furthermore, depending on a city’s size, human capital, environmental regulations, and financial subsidies, digital infrastructure contributes to urban green innovation differently. Also, there is not only a positive spatial spillover effect of digital infrastructure but a threshold effect that presents a nonlinear trend of rising marginal effect. This study provides a new perspective for promoting digital infrastructure and urban green innovation, which makes a difference in facilitating its high-level development collaboratively.

Suggested Citation

  • Chengming Li & Meiyu Wen & Shaoxiang Jiang & Huaxing Wang, 2024. "Assessing the effect of urban digital infrastructure on green innovation: mechanism identification and spatial-temporal characteristics," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-02787-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-02787-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-02787-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-024-02787-y?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Long Xue & Qianyu Zhang & Xuemang Zhang & Chengyu Li, 2022. "Can Digital Transformation Promote Green Technology Innovation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Forman, Chris & van Zeebroeck, Nicolas, 2019. "Digital technology adoption and knowledge flows within firms: Can the Internet overcome geographic and technological distance?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    4. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2014. "US Food Aid and Civil Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1630-1666, June.
    5. María Verónica Alderete, 2017. "Mobile Broadband: A Key Enabling Technology for Entrepreneurship?," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 254-269, April.
    6. Hansen, Bruce E., 1999. "Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 345-368, December.
    7. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Scott Thacker & Daniel Adshead & Marianne Fay & Stéphane Hallegatte & Mark Harvey & Hendrik Meller & Nicholas O’Regan & Julie Rozenberg & Graham Watkins & Jim W. Hall, 2019. "Infrastructure for sustainable development," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 324-331, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lei Li & Xiaoyu Ma & Shaojun Ma & Feng Gao, 2024. "Role of green finance in regional heterogeneous green innovation: Evidence from China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Lixin Zhou & Caiping Qu & Li Zhi, 2024. "Research on the Impact of Digital Infrastructure on Urban Breakthrough Green Innovation: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Weihua Liu & Jiahe Hou & Yang Cheng & Chaolun Yuan & Rui Lan & Hing Kai Chan, 2024. "The potential of smart factories in reducing environmental emissions: the evidence from Chinese listed manufacturing firms," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.

    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. 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).
    2. Peng Liang & Xinhui Sun, 2024. "Does digital transformation promote the green innovation of China’s listed companies?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 22199-22235, September.
    3. Ren, Jianyu & Xu, Zhitao & Hu, Mingzhi, 2023. "Digital economy and settlement intention of migrants in urban China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10).
    4. Chenjing Zhang & Qiaoge Li & Di Mao & Mancang Wang, 2023. "Research on the Threshold Effect of Internet Development on Regional Inclusive Finance in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Wang, Lianghu & Shao, Jun, 2024. "The energy saving effects of digital infrastructure construction: Empirical evidence from Chinese industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    6. Zhu, Qing & Ma, Dan & He, Xin, 2023. "Digital transformation and firms' pollution emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    7. Li, Yutao & Zhang, Jinning & Lyu, Yanwei, 2023. "Does telecommunications infrastructure promote entrepreneurship in developing countries? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 106-119.
    8. Lingzhang Kong & Jinye Li, 2022. "Digital Economy Development and Green Economic Efficiency: Evidence from Province-Level Empirical Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-26, December.
    9. Zhang, Yijun & Meng, Zhenzhen & Song, Yi, 2023. "Digital transformation and metal enterprise value: Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(PB).
    10. Zhang, Wei & Liu, Xuemeng & Wang, Die & Zhou, Jianping, 2022. "Digital economy and carbon emission performance: Evidence at China's city level," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    11. Raphael J. Nawrotzki & Verena Gantner & Jana Balzer & Thomas Wencker & Sabine Brüntrup-Seidemann, 2022. "Strategic Allocation of Development Projects in Post-Conflict Regions: A Gender Perspective for Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    12. Lyu, Yanwei & Xiao, Xuan & Zhang, Jinning, 2024. "Does the digital economy enhance green total factor productivity in China? The evidence from a national big data comprehensive pilot zone," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 183-196.
    13. Du, Jiayue & Gao, Haoyu & Wen, Huiyu & Ye, Yanyi, 2024. "Public data acces and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    14. Wenhui Luo & Gennian Tang & Peiling Yang & Chunxia Jia & Ruize Yang, 2024. "Examining Digital Economy’s Role in Urban Green Development: A Study of the Yangtze River Delta Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 11250-11285, September.
    15. Aihua Shen & Rui Wang, 2023. "Digital Transformation and Green Development Research: Microscopic Evidence from China’s Listed Construction Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-31, August.
    16. Tian, Lichuan & Sun, Kai & Yang, Jie & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Does digital economy affect corporate ESG performance? New insights from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 964-980.
    17. Yihui Chen & Minjie Li, 2024. "How does the digital transformation of agriculture affect carbon emissions? Evidence from China’s provincial panel data," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Huaping Guan & Binhua Guo & Jianwu Zhang, 2022. "Study on the Impact of the Digital Economy on the Upgrading of Industrial Structures—Empirical Analysis Based on Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    19. Yang, Hefan & Liu, Xilu & Meng, Yao & Feng, Baoyi & Chen, Zhijun, 2024. "Digital transformation and the allocation of decision-making rights within business groups – Empirical evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    20. Xing Zhang & Jian Zhong & Huanfang Wang, 2023. "Does the Development of Digital Economy Affect Environmental Pollution?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-18, June.

    More about this item

    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:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-02787-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.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.