Research on the Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on the Innovation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - The Mediating Effect of Financing Constraints

From the current development trend, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have already occupied a vital position in the national economic system. Although they contribute strong momentum to economic growth, SMEs have consistently faced challenges such as difficulties in accessing finance and high financing costs. The emergence of digital inclusive finance has broken through many limitations of traditional financial services, providing SMEs with more diverse financing options and opportunities. This paper aims to explore the impact of digital inclusive finance on the innovation capabilities and financing constraints of SMEs.This paper takes listed companies on the China’s SME Board from 2014 to 2024 as samples, uses a two-way fixed effects model for analysis. The results show that digital inclusive finance significantly promotes technological innovation among SMEs. Moreover, financing constraints play a significant mediating role in this process, alleviating financing difficulties and enhancing the innovation capabilities of SMEs.