Management Review ›› 2026, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (8): 121-135.

• Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management • Previous Articles    

Rebalancing or Polarization: Data Elements and Innovation—An Analysis Based on the Perspective of Enterprise Heterogeneity

Wan Jianxiang1, Liu Qiongfang1,2, Wang Shanshan1, Cao Bingbin1   

  1. 1. School of Information Management, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013;
    2. School of Mathematics and Computational Science, Shangrao Normal University, Shangrao 334001
  • Received:2024-09-23 Published:2026-09-11

Abstract: Enterprise innovation is the fundamental way to lead the construction of a modern industrial system and form new quality productivity. Data elements are new factors of production and the basis for converting old drivers of economic growth to new ones. So can we use data elements to stimulate the innovation vigor of enterprises, give a boost to the efficiency of their innovation, and form new quality productivity? In this paper, based on the heterogeneous innovation theory, we divide enterprise innovation into iterative and radical innovation, construct a theoretical model of data element and enterprise dual innovation, and theoretically clarify the effect of data element on iterative and radical innovation as well as the mechanism underlying the effect. Microscopic data of listed companies from 2011 to 2023 is further used to empirically test theoretical models. The results show that: (1) Data elements significantly promote the iterative innovation and radical innovation of enterprises, and have a greater impact on the iterative innovation. (2) In terms of influence mechanism, the moderating effect of enterprise size on the influence of data elements on enterprise ambassadors innovation is manifested as a dual effect: it not only enhances the polarization effect of data elements on iterative innovation, but also inhibits the equilibrium effect of data elements on radical innovation. (3) The heterogeneity analysis finds that the data elements have a particularly prominent promoting effect on the dual innovation of high-tech intensive enterprises and private enterprises. This study provides useful insights for exploring the innovation-driven path of deep integration of digital and real economies to develop new quality productivity.

Key words: data elements, new quality productivity, iterative innovations, radical innovations, enterprise scale