Can FinTech empower companies to develop corporate new quality productive forces? Evidence from Chinese listed companies

The global rise of Financial Technology (FinTech) is transforming the economic landscape by deeply integrating finance and technology. Against this backdrop, how to cultivate new quality productive forces to achieve high-quality and sustainable development has become a globally significant frontier issue. Drawing on the experience of China, this study explores the impact of FinTech development on corporate new quality productive forces and its underlying mechanisms. The study finds that FinTech development significantly enhances corporate new quality productive forces, a core conclusion that remains robust after a series of rigorous tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that this effect is primarily achieved by improving market resource allocation efficiency, alleviating corporate financing constraints, and stimulating corporate innovation vitality. Heterogeneity tests reveal that the enhancing effect of FinTech development on corporate new quality productive forces is more pronounced in environments with higher market competition, among non-state-owned enterprises, within smaller-scale firms, and in regions with lower levels of marketization. Theoretically, this study expands the research paradigm concerning the theoretical conceptualization and driving factors of corporate new quality productive forces. Practically, it provides empirical evidence from a major emerging market economy for optimizing the development pathways of FinTech globally, promoting its deep integration with the real economy, empowering high-quality development of the real economy, and fostering advanced productive forces.