Digital Inclusive Finance and Corporate Innovation: The Moderating Effect of Financing Constraints — Empirical Evidence from Chinese A-Share Listed Companies

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-699-9_35How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Digital Inclusive Finance; Corporate Innovation; Financing constraints; Breakthrough Innovation; Chinese A-share listed companies

Abstract

This study uses panel data for Chinese A-share listed firms from 2012 to 2023 to examine how digital inclusive finance is related to corporate innovation. Patent-based measures are employed to distinguish overall innovation output from breakthrough innovation, and financing constraints are introduced to assess whether they condition this relationship. The empirical evidence shows that firms located in areas with a higher level of digital inclusive finance exhibit better innovation performance. This positive association is stronger when innovation is measured by invention-related outcomes, suggesting a closer link with higher-quality innovation. The results also indicate that the role of digital inclusive finance becomes more salient for firms facing tighter financing constraints. Further subgroup analysis reveals that the association is more pronounced in firms where the positions of chairman and general manager are held concurrently. By jointly considering financing conditions, governance differences, and heterogeneous innovation outcomes, this paper offers firm-level evidence on the role of digital inclusive finance in supporting innovation activities in China.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Tianyi Wei
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/02
TI  - Digital Inclusive Finance and Corporate Innovation: The Moderating Effect of Financing Constraints — Empirical Evidence from Chinese A-Share Listed Companies
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 4th International Conference on Digital Economy and Management Science (CDEMS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 332
EP  - 340
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-699-9_35
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-699-9_35
ID  - Wei2026
ER  -