Impact of economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation: Evidence from China

By using the data from Chinese listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market for the period 2007 to 2019 and the Report on the Work of the Government, this paper investigates the impact of the local government’s economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation and its mechanism. It is found that the local government’s economic growth target constraints significantly inhibit enterprise technological innovation, which is more obvious in the samples of SOEs, regulated industries, and enterprises at low marketization levels. The change of government officials’ performance appraisal indicators from the quantity to quality of economic growth can alleviate the negative effect. The mechanism effect test indicates that the local government’s economic growth target constraints will aggravate enterprise financing constraints and decrease the contribution of R&D investment to enterprise performance, and further inhibit enterprise technological innovation.