Robot adoption and firm export: Evidence from China

IF 12.9 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Technological Forecasting and Social Change Pub Date : 2024-11-19 DOI:10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123878

Yuanyuan Cao, Shaojian Chen, Heyan Tang

{"title":"Robot adoption and firm export: Evidence from China","authors":"Yuanyuan Cao, Shaojian Chen, Heyan Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123878","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Whether the robot adoption can lead to a new competitive advantage in international trade has become an urgent problem for firms that export from China. Using matching data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Database and the China Industrial Enterprises Database and China Customs Database for 2011 to 2013, this study examines the impact of robot adoption on firm export and its mechanism. We find that the robot adoption significantly promotes firm export, including the value and intensity of firm export, mainly owing to an improvement in firm productivity. This effect remains robust after using instrumental variable to account for endogenous factors and replacing core explanatory variables. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, first, robot adoption plays a greater role in promoting firm export by foreign enterprises and private enterprises than by state-owned enterprises. Second, robot adoption has a stronger effect on labor-intensive industries than on non-labor-intensive industries. Third, with the increase of firm scale, innovation and human capital, the promoting effect of robot adoption on firm export increases. Our research provides empirical evidence on the positive impact of robot adoption on firm export and sheds light on how to maintain the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48454,"journal":{"name":"Technological Forecasting and Social Change","volume":"210 ","pages":"Article 123878"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Technological Forecasting and Social Change","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162524006760","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Whether the robot adoption can lead to a new competitive advantage in international trade has become an urgent problem for firms that export from China. Using matching data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Database and the China Industrial Enterprises Database and China Customs Database for 2011 to 2013, this study examines the impact of robot adoption on firm export and its mechanism. We find that the robot adoption significantly promotes firm export, including the value and intensity of firm export, mainly owing to an improvement in firm productivity. This effect remains robust after using instrumental variable to account for endogenous factors and replacing core explanatory variables. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, first, robot adoption plays a greater role in promoting firm export by foreign enterprises and private enterprises than by state-owned enterprises. Second, robot adoption has a stronger effect on labor-intensive industries than on non-labor-intensive industries. Third, with the increase of firm scale, innovation and human capital, the promoting effect of robot adoption on firm export increases. Our research provides empirical evidence on the positive impact of robot adoption on firm export and sheds light on how to maintain the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in China.

查看原文本刊更多论文

机器人应用与企业出口：来自中国的证据

采用机器人能否在国际贸易中带来新的竞争优势，已成为中国出口企业亟待解决的问题。本研究利用2011-2013年国际机器人联合会（IFR）数据库与中国工业企业数据库和中国海关数据库的匹配数据，考察了机器人应用对企业出口的影响及其机制。我们发现，机器人的采用极大地促进了企业出口，包括企业出口额和出口强度，这主要归功于企业生产率的提高。在使用工具变量考虑内生因素并替换核心解释变量后，这一效应依然稳健。异质性分析表明：第一，采用机器人对外资企业和民营企业出口的促进作用大于国有企业。第二，机器人应用对劳动密集型产业的影响大于对非劳动密集型产业的影响。第三，随着企业规模、创新和人力资本的增加，机器人应用对企业出口的促进作用也会增加。我们的研究为机器人应用对企业出口的积极影响提供了经验证据，并为如何保持中国制造业企业的竞争力提供了启示。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Technological Forecasting and Social Change Multiple-

CiteScore

21.30

自引率

10.80%

发文量

813

期刊介绍： Technological Forecasting and Social Change is a prominent platform for individuals engaged in the methodology and application of technological forecasting and future studies as planning tools, exploring the interconnectedness of social, environmental, and technological factors. In addition to serving as a key forum for these discussions, we offer numerous benefits for authors, including complimentary PDFs, a generous copyright policy, exclusive discounts on Elsevier publications, and more.