A Study on the Promoting Role of Fintech in the Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises in Strategic Emerging Industries

Abstract

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed the development of "new productive forces," whose core essence lies in "significantly enhancing total factor productivity." As the backbone of boosting TFP, strategic emerging industries shoulder the crucial mission of leading the sustained and healthy development of industries. By virtue of its innovative business models, applications, and service systems, fintech provides comprehensive and efficient financial support for enterprises in strategic emerging industries, thereby contributing to the improvement of their TFP. Based on data from 1,370 strategic emerging enterprises spanning the period 2014–2023, this study systematically analyzes the impact of fintech on corporate TFP and its underlying transmission mechanisms. The findings indicate that fintech significantly promotes the TFP of strategic emerging enterprises, and this conclusion remains robust after conducting endogeneity tests and robustness checks. An in-depth analysis of the mechanism reveals that fintech primarily enhances TFP through two chained intermediary pathways: alleviating financing constraints to further advance enterprise digital transformation, and strengthening digital technology innovation capabilities to drive enterprise digital transformation. Furthermore, national regulation exerts a positive moderating effect on the contribution of fintech to the TFP growth of strategic emerging enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis shows that compared with non-state-owned enterprises and resource- or labor-intensive industries, fintech has a more pronounced TFP-enhancing effect on state-owned enterprises and technology-intensive industries. Finally, based on the empirical results, this study offers insights for fintech to better empower the efficiency of the real economy and promote the high-quality development of strategic emerging industries.