How public digital governance system affects firms' digital technology innovation performance: Base on open innovation perspective

Abstract

Public digital governance (PDG) represents the government's capacity to leverage digital technologies in public administration. From a systems perspective, PDG encompasses four core dimensions and exhibits the distinctive characteristics of holism-emergence and independence-modularity. Drawing upon the framework of open innovation, this study investigates the key mechanisms through which PDG influences the digital technology innovation performance (DTIP) of enterprises. Utilizing a dynamic panel model based on data from Chinese provincial governments and listed firms, the paper inspects a benchmark effect and examines the transmission pathways through mediating, moderating, and threshold effect models. The empirical results reveal several findings. First, within the open innovation context, the enhancement of PDG directly improves DTIP, while the presence of CTO-equivalent positions within firms contributes to heterogeneity under the impact of PDG. Second, PDG enhances DTIP through multiple parallel mediating mechanisms, including the accumulation of information capital, the reduction of technological blockade, the promotion of knowledge integration, and the acceleration of corporate digitalization. Additionally, a chain mediating mechanism is identified, wherein PDG influences regional digital homogeneity, thereby facilitating corporate digitalization, finally impacts DTIP. Third, regional innovation and entrepreneurship activity positively moderates the relationship between PDG and DTIP, whereas corporate attention to digitalization exhibits a nonlinear threshold effect. This study conceptualizes the key dimensions of PDG from a systems theory perspective, unpacks the underlying mechanisms linking PDG to DTIP and offers valuable implications for understanding the coordinated development of public digital governance and firm innovation performance.