Innovation Ecosystem Resilience and Corporate Innovation Investment: Evidence from China's Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative Enterprises

Abstract

China's Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative (SRDI) enterprises are the core force for industrial transformation and upgrading, as well as for breakthroughs in key core technologies. Innovation investment is a crucial support for cultivating their core competitiveness and achieving high-quality development. However, these enterprises face challenges such as constraints on innovation resources and an uncertain external environment, requiring coordinated internal and external empowerment. The resilience of the innovation ecosystem provides external support, while digital transformation connects internal and external resources; the mechanism through which these factors influence enterprise innovation investment urgently needs to be explored. This paper takes SRDI enterprises listed on the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing Stock Exchanges from 2013 to 2024 as samples to investigate the impact of innovation ecosystem resilience, analyze the differentiated effects of its three dimensions, and test the mediating role of digital transformation. The study uses entropy method and text analysis to quantify indicators and conducts heterogeneity analysis. Empirical results show that both innovation ecosystem resilience and its three dimensions positively promote innovation investment, with the resistance effect being the most prominent; digital transformation plays a mediating role; this impact is more significant in large-scale, non-state-owned, technology- and capital-intensive enterprises, and non-manufacturing enterprises benefit slightly more than manufacturing enterprises.