Impact of economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation: Evidence from China

Abstract

By using the data from Chinese listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market for the period 2007 to 2019 and the Report on the Work of the Government, this paper investigates the impact of the local government’s economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation and its mechanism. It is found that the local government’s economic growth target constraints significantly inhibit enterprise technological innovation, which is more obvious in the samples of SOEs, regulated industries, and enterprises at low marketization levels. The change of government officials’ performance appraisal indicators from the quantity to quality of economic growth can alleviate the negative effect. The mechanism effect test indicates that the local government’s economic growth target constraints will aggravate enterprise financing constraints and decrease the contribution of R&D investment to enterprise performance, and further inhibit enterprise technological innovation.

The sustainable development trend in environmental, social, and governance issues and stakeholder engagement: Evidence from mergers and acquisitions in China

“…First, our work contributes to the literature on corporate investment by investigating how target firm characteristics influence M&A bid price, and thus the outcome of M&As more broadly. Specifically, our study is most closely aligned with studies that examine the influence of corporate social responsibility on M&A activities (Baker et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022;Luo & Wang, 2022;Zhang & Mauck, 2018). These studies are primarily con- Second, our study contributes to the literature on the determinates of M&A bid premiums (Arouri et al, 2019;de La Bruslerie, 2013;Dimopoulos & Sacchetto, 2014;Lin, 2016;Malmendier et al, 2016;Officer, 2005).…”

Does Transportation Infrastructure Construction Enhance Enterprise Innovation Resilience in China?

“…This paper selects the listed companies and urban panel data from 2007 to 2021 as the initial sample. Based on the research of Li et al (2022) [44], we process the data as follows:…”

“…The Suest test results show that compared with the SOEs, the opening of HSR has a more obvious impact on non-SOEs' innovation resilience. In China, non-SOEs face greater resource constraints and institutional costs than SOEs, which restricts enterprise operation and development [44]. One the one hand, transport infrastructure construction has promoted the flow of factors over a wider scale and brought a more efficient and open market environment for enterprise, which can reduce the cost of non-SOEs in dealing with the local government; as a result, the impact of transportation infrastructure construction on non-SOEs' innovation resilience is more prominent.…”

The Impact of Economic Growth Target Constraints on Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China

“…Furthermore, some scholars examine the impact of EGT on enterprises. For example, Li presented that EGT set by local governments can significantly inhibit the growth of enterprises' technological innovation level [22]. Zhong showed that the high-pressure EGT will force local officials to deregulate the supervision of environment, which enable enterprises to reduce environmental protection investment [29].…”

“…It is an effective addition to existing research. Second, in terms of theoretical contribution, the traditional goal-setting theory mainly focuses on the incentive effect of goals on micro-individuals [22,23], but this paper identifies the impact of goal-setting from the macro aspect-EGT set of government, which expands the theoretical boundary of goal-setting theory to a certain extent. Third, in terms of practical significance, the macrocontrol of national economic growth through the setting of EGT is not unique to China, and it has been a global phenomenon.…”