Developing new quality productive forces is an important way for enterprises to achieve high-quality development. Currently, issues such as the inadequate integration of data elements with traditional production factors and inefficient industrial chain collaboration restrict the development of new quality productive forces. Against the backdrop of a new round of industrial transformation and the development of data element markets, the focus of industrial chain integration has shifted from asset integration to data integration. Industrial chain integration has become an important driver for clearing bottlenecks in data circulation, promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, and fostering the development of new quality productive forces. However, few studies have explored the impact of industrial chain integration on new quality productive forces. Moreover, no study has measured enterprises’ trusted data governance capability in the context of building trusted data spaces or examined its key mechanism in industrial chain integration and the development of new quality productive forces.
This study uses data from Shanghai and Chinese A-share companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2011 to 2023 to examine the impact of industrial chain integration on the development of new quality productive forces from a merger and acquisition (M&A) perspective. The study also tests the mechanism of trusted data governance capability. The findings indicate that industrial chain integration significantly promotes the development of enterprises’ new quality productive forces. This conclusion remains valid even after conducting a series of endogeneity tests and robustness checks. Mechanism analysis reveals that industrial chain integration systematically enhances enterprises’ trusted data governance capability by cultivating their trusted management and control, resource interaction, and value co-creation capabilities, thereby promoting the development of new quality productive forces. Further heterogeneity analysis suggests that, from the perspective of industrial chain integration types, downstream M&As exert the strongest positive effect on new quality productive forces, followed by intra-industry M&As, with upstream M&As showing the weakest effect; from a temporal perspective, the effect of industrial chain integration on enhancing new quality productive forces has increased significantly after 2015; from an industry perspective, industrial chain integration significantly promotes the development of new quality productive forces in competitive industries, whereas its effect is not statistically significant in regulated industries.
Compared with existing research, this study makes three marginal contributions: (1) Based on the practical context of building trusted data spaces, the study innovatively constructs an indicator system for trusted data governance capability from three dimensions, namely trusted management and control, resource interaction, and value co-creation. It provides ideas and methods for future empirical research. (2) The study examines the impact of industrial chain integration on new quality productive forces and conducts a heterogeneity analysis by distinguishing between different types of integration. On the one hand, this study enriches theoretical research and empirical evidence on the economic effects of industrial chain integration and the influencing factors of new quality productive forces, thereby providing a basis for the implementation of M&A support policies. On the other hand, the study reveals the differentiated impacts of various integration paths on enterprise development, offering a valuable reference for enterprises’ M&A restructuring decisions. (3) From the perspective of trusted data governance capability, the study reveals the internal mechanism by which industrial chain integration promotes the development of new quality productive forces, responding to practical pain points such as data silos and inefficient industrial chain collaboration.
Based on the research findings, this study proposes the following policy recommendations from enterprise and government perspectives: (1) Enterprises should actively advance industrial chain integration, strengthen digital infrastructure development, improve trusted data governance systems, and cultivate employees’ data governance awareness to drive the development of new quality productive forces. (2) Governments should formulate and refine industrial chain integration policies, deploy new digital infrastructure, and strengthen the development of trusted data spaces and data governance systems, thereby laying a solid foundation for the advancement of new quality productive forces.
ZhangQ X, DuanY X. Digital empowerment, industrial chain integration, and total factor productivity[J]. Business and Management Journal,2023,45(4):5-21.
QiaoB, LiuZ T, XuY. The dual mediating mechanism of digital empowerment on enterprise innovation: theoretical model and empirical evidence[J]. Nankai Economic Studies,2025,41(6):62-80.
YuanC, XiaoT S, GengC X, et al. Digital transformation and division of labor between enterprises: vertical specialization or vertical integration[J]. China Industrial Economics,2021,38(9):137-155.
[7]
WilliamsonO E. The vertical integration of production: market failure considerations[J]. The American Economic Review,1971,61(2):112-123.
[8]
MaZ F, WangX C, JainD K, et al. A blockchain-based trusted data management scheme in edge computing[J]. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics,2020,16(3):2013-2021.
[9]
徐珉川.论公共数据开放的可信治理[J].比较法研究,2021,35(6):143-156.
[10]
XuM C. Trusted governance for open public data[J]. Journal of Comparative Law,2021,35(6):143-156.
WangS B, HouB W, LiY Z. New quality productivity forces element mechanism, innovation logic, and path breakthrough: through the lens of system theory[J]. Modern Economic Science,2025,47(1):120-133.
ChengH W, FengQ Y, ZhangY H. Study on integration of industry chain driven by capital and knowledge: take PanGang vanadium and titanium industry chain as example[J]. China Industrial Economics,2008,25(3):143-151.
[16]
CaiJ, LiN. Growth through inter-sectoral knowledge linkages[J]. The Review of Economic Studies,2019,86(5):1827-1866.
WangR Y, LiangQ, LiG Q. A new form of the spatial agglomeration under the deep integration of a new generation of information technology and the real economy[J]. Journal of Management World,2018,34(2):13-21.
LingY H, ZhaT J. Research on the formation and evolution of local innovation clusters in China: based on the perspective of industrial chain integration[J]. Economist,2022,34(5):69-77.
SongH, HanS Q, LiuW Y. How does digital technology construct the trust relationship of supply chain finance network?[J]. Journal of Management World,2022,38(3):182-200.
QianG M, YangZ, ChenJ. The formation mechanism and promotion strategy of new quality productive forces from the perspective of digital platforms[J]. Journal of Xi’an Jiaotong University(Social Sciences),2024,44(5):15-26.
WangZ X, WeiL. Is information sharing conducive to collaborative innovation in manufacturing companies? An empirical analysis based on the survey data of business environment of Chinese enterprises[J]. Contemporary Finance & Economics,2019,40(10):95-106.
SongJ, ZhangJ C, PanY. Research on the impact of ESG development on new quality productive forces of enterprises: empirical evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies[J]. Contemporary Economic Management,2024,46(6):1-11.
WangY Q, DongW. How the rise of robots has affected China’s labor market: evidence from China’s listed manufacturing firms[J]. Economic Research Journal,2020,55(10):159-175.
[33]
FrésardL, HobergG, PhillipsG M. Innovation activities and integration through vertical acquisitions[J]. The Review of Financial Studies,2020,33(7):2937-2976.
YeZ Y, ZhuangZ W. Industrial chain leading firms and local manufacturing firms’ growth: driving force or resistance[J]. China Industrial Economics,2022,39(7):141-158.
LiuG C, DuanY Z, LiuY Y. Economic policy uncertainty, asset reversibility, and real investment: evidence from China[J]. Economic Research Journal,2019,54(8):53-70.
TaoF, ZhaiS X, WangQ. Digital economy policies and cross-boundary digital innovation of traditional enterprises[J]. China Industrial Economics,2025,42(2):118-136.
ZhangJ, ZhengW P. Has catch-up strategy of innovation inhibited the quality of China’s patents?[J]. Economic Research Journal,2018,53(5):28-41.
[44]
HainmuellerJ. Entropy balancing for causal effects: a multivariate reweighting method to produce balanced samples in observational studies[J]. Political Analysis,2012,20(1):25-46.
[45]
LiP, LuY, WangJ. Does flattening government improve economic performance? Evidence from China[J]. Journal of Development Economics,2016,123:18-37.
[46]
SunL Y, AbrahamS. Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects[J]. Journal of Econometrics,2021,225:175-199.
[47]
RambachanA, RothJ. A more credible approach to parallel trends[J]. Review of Economic Studies,2023,90(5):2555-2591.
[48]
BiasiB, SarsonsH. Flexible wages, bargaining, and the gender gap[J]. The Quarterly Journal of Economics,2022,137(1):215-266.
ShiD, SunG L. Data elements and new quality productive forces: a perspective from total factor productivity of enterprises[J]. Economic Theory and Business Management,2024,44(4):12-30.
JiangT. Mediating effects and moderating effects in causal inference[J]. China Industrial Economics,2022,39(5):100-120.
[53]
KeB, LiuN, TangS. The effect of anti-corruption campaign on shareholder value in a weak institutional environment: evidence from China[R]. Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research Working Paper,2016.