Digital technology innovation is a key driver of enterprise digital transformation and an enabler of high-quality development in the digital economy. To leverage digital technology innovation, it is essential to fully utilize two distinct national advantages: first, the increasingly prominent scale of the domestic market; second, the establishment of market integration mechanisms. However, existing literature rarely integrates market integration, domestic market scale, and digital technology innovation into a unified framework, nor does it elucidate the pathways through which market integration influences domestic market scale-induced digital technology innovation.
This paper utilizes data from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research Database, patent database, and China Urban Statistical Yearbook, with listed manufacturing companies from 2010 to 2021 as research subjects, to examine the relationship between domestic market scale and corporate digital technology innovation. Furthermore, based on market integration, the study explores the reinforcing effect of market institutional development on this relationship and its implementation mechanisms. The findings reveal that domestic market scale significantly promotes corporate digital technology innovation, and market integration further reinforces the “domestic market scale-induced digital technology innovation” effect. Mechanism testing and conditional analysis indicate that the reinforcing effect of market integration on domestic market scale-induced digital technology innovation is primarily achieved through information sharing effects, reducing institutional transaction costs, and promoting market competition. However, this reinforcing effect is constrained by domestic market growth potential and corporate technological absorption capacity. Further analysis from the perspective of domestic and international market synergy reveals that when higher trade openness is combined with higher market integration, the positive impact of domestic market scale on corporate digital technology innovation capability increases.
Compared to previous literature, this study makes three key contributions: First, within the context of digital transformation and based on “demand-induced innovation” theory, it explores the existence of domestic market scale-induced digital technology innovation in Chinese enterprises under the new dual-circulation development pattern. Second, based on China’s unique exogenous advantage of its super-large market, it explores the reinforcing effect of market integration on domestic market scale-induced digital technology innovation and its implementation conditions. Third, from the perspective of the synergy between domestic and international markets, it investigates the impact of the combination of trade openness and market integration on domestic market scale-induced digital technology innovation.
This paper expands the new pathways for market integration to empower digital technology innovation from the perspective of domestic market scale within the unified national market. It provides insights for government departments to formulate targeted policies to improve market mechanisms, leverage China’s super-large market advantage to promote enterprise digital technology innovation, and advance high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and strength.
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