Data element marketization and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from China

Data elements have been a crucial driving force for companies in optimizing resource allocation. For improved collection, availability, and access, marketization of data elements, as a significant development trend in the digital economy era, is gradually becoming integrated with and profoundly transforming corporate operational models and decision-making logics, exerting a far-reaching impact on corporate investment decisions and efficiency. Based on the research scenario in which data-trading platforms have been successively established in various cities in China since 2014, this study constructs a multiperiod difference-in-differences model to explore the impact and mechanism of data element marketization on corporate investment efficiency. Results indicate that data element marketization can significantly enhance corporate investment efficiency, with mechanism analysis revealing that this effect occurs by intensifying market competition, alleviating financing constraints, and improving management efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that data element marketization has a more pronounced effect on investment efficiency in samples with better corporate governance, higher corporate technological intensity, better regional legal institutional environments, and greater local government attention to the digital economy. Further analysis shows that data element marketization can alleviate overinvestment and underinvestment. This study reveals the value-creation role of data element marketization from the perspective of investment efficiency, providing empirical evidence and policy insights for the government to further its reforms in the market-oriented allocation of data elements.