Modeling Relations Between Digital Economy and Regional Innovation: A Multi-Transmission Effect from Environmental Performance

Using the digital economy as a new carrier to drive innovation has become an indispensable strategic support for the progress of countries, while environmental protection is a necessary condition to ensure its sustainable development. A multi-transition framework is proposed in this article with the purpose of revealing the relations between the digital economy and regional innovation under the indirect effects of environmental performance; a mediating model and threshold effect model are used to examine empirical results considering the panel data at Chinese provincial levels. Moreover, the heterogeneity and the robustness also verified the multi-transition effect. The research findings are as follows: First, the digital economy can significantly enhance regional innovation capacity, which also shows obvious dimensional and geographical heterogeneities. Second, a mediating effect of the digital economy on regional innovation under environmental performance is considered, and environmental performance has an increasingly significant role in fostering regional innovation as the digital economy continues to grow, indicating that improving environmental performance is an essential strategy for achieving the steady release of innovation dividends. Furthermore, the above results are provided with heterogeneity and robustness under PM2.5, COVID-19, and regional innovation quantiles. Therefore, focusing on regional innovation via environmental performance is necessary, and policymakers and professionals should pay more attention to further stimulating regional innovation potential.