Research on the Role and Mechanism of Digital Finance in Improving the Performance of Industrial Green Innovation

Abstract

The slack-based measure–Malmquist index model (SBM Malmquist) including unexpected output was used to calculate the performance of China’s provincial industrial green innovation from 2011 to 2019, and a systematic general moment method (GMM) with a dynamic panel model was constructed to empirically test the effect and mechanism of digital finance on the performance of industrial green innovation. The results show that the performance of China’s industrial green innovation has shown an upward trend in recent years, mainly due to improvements in technical efficiency. Digital finance can significantly promote the performance of industrial green innovation, and the improvement of technical efficiency is greater than that of technological progress. From the perspective of structure, the coverage, use depth, and digitization degree have significantly promoted the performance of industrial green innovation, and the digitization degree has the greatest effect. In areas with backward and traditional financial development, digital finance can better promote the improvement in the performance of industrial green innovation and technical efficiency, and the role of the universal benefit is obvious. The mechanism test found that financial efficiency played a partial intermediary effect in the process of digital finance, affecting the performance of industrial green innovation, while residents’ consumption mainly played a masking role. This provides a useful reference for the development and optimization of digital finance and the realization of the drive towards regional industrial green innovation.